{"id":667,"date":"2008-12-21T13:49:44","date_gmt":"2008-12-21T18:49:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2008\/12\/21\/happy-3rd-anniversary-to-me\/"},"modified":"2019-02-26T21:53:46","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T02:53:46","slug":"happy-3rd-anniversary-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2008\/12\/21\/happy-3rd-anniversary-to-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy 3rd Anniversary To… Me!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s almost impossible to think that exactly three years ago today…<\/p>\n

At this precise moment in time… 10:08am.<\/p>\n

I was laying on an operating table having my aortic heart valve replaced<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, it has been an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING 36 MONTHS AND IT IS TIME TO CELEBRATE!!!<\/p>\n

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If you are curious, here is a picture of what I looked like 3 years ago. I asked my wife, Robyn, to take this picture after the bulky ventilator tube was removed from my throat in the intensive care unit.<\/p>\n

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My mind is now racing as I think about all that has changed since my open heart surgery. To appreciate this moment, I am taking several deep breaths to consider life after Dr. Vaughn Starnes fixed my heart at USC Medical Center on December 21, 2005.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the most memorable highlights since my cardiac surgery:<\/p>\n

Robyn and I were engaged and then married on July 7, 2007.<\/p>\n

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I wrote my book and began helping patients and caregivers around-the-world through this website. I even began meeting my readers (and new friends) in person – including Taylor and Michelle Browning.<\/p>\n

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I became a gardener with a passion for growing (and smelling) roses.<\/p>\n

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I introduced Robyn to SCUBA diving on our honeymoon.<\/p>\n

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I learned A LOT about the surgical processes of repairing and replacing heart valves. Here I am at Edwards Lifesciences on a tour of their heart valve manufacturing center in Irvine, California.<\/p>\n

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I traveled to over 20 foreign countries for work and fun. I even met fellow valve surgery patients in remote countries. Here I am with Mary Billings in Fiji.<\/p>\n

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Robyn and I moved into a new house together.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Ben Rosin, my cardiologist, told me that my heart is doing GREEEEAAAAAATT!!!<\/p>\n

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I returned to the Pacific Ocean and the sport I love… surfing.<\/p>\n

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My wife and I conceived a lil’ baby boy that is due in April, 2009.<\/p>\n

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I learned how to make the perfect, spicy Bloody Mary – with a little horseradish, some Worchestire sauce and pickled greenbeans. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I fell more deeply in love with my wife.<\/p>\n

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Ultimately, I am trying to inspire you or the patient you are care for. While there is risk associated with heart surgery, there is also a tremendous opportunity to live a fun, extraordinary life once your ticker is fixed!<\/p>\n

That said…<\/p>\n

Keep on tickin!
\nAdam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adams-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}