Adam's Guestbook

Adam Collins  Thank you for your kind words! I was so glad to be home from the hospital, and one of the main reasons for that is that I missed my dog!

I'm about a month out from surgery now. which is kinda hard to believe, and I feel like I'm doing well. I'm walking more and more each day, and I started back to work today (I'm going to be working from home for awhile).

In my mind, the waiting phase is worse than the recovery phase. Don't get me wrong, the recovery phases can be pretty difficult, but it's very nice not to have the surgery itself looming over you anymore. I'm sure your surgery will go great. From our perspectives, as the patients, we take a nap for a minute or two and then wake up in the ICU and start recovering. I hope you have some peace while you're waiting, and I hope your recovery process goes quickly and painlessly!

Adam Collins  Thanks man, I appreciate it. And I wish the same for you as well. Here's to all of us being healthy and in recovery soon!

Frank DeGrazia  Adam,
As a followup to your comments. At the risk of confusing your decision, keep an open mind to ALL options. I have known my Cardiologist for some 12 Years , as a Swim Parent (I'm a Swim Coach), as a friend and for the last 6 Yrs , as my Cardiologist. Even he recommended that I should seek secondary and potentially tertiary opinions. Never feel 'pidgeon holed' in your decision making . For me with the same condition as you, The Bio Prosthetic Valve was my choice. Since the TAVR procedure is not conducive with a Bicuspid Valve(doesn't seat right, and prone to leakage post OP. However, now with the Bovine prosthetic, if and when it no longer functions well, I'm a candidate for the TAVR non invasive procedure thru Catheterization. (Mick Jagger just had it done. Stay the course , and Ill be folloiwing your progress. All the Best!
Frank

Adam Collins  Thank you for your advice and encouragement, Frank. I hope all continues to go well and better and better for you in your recovery. I'm trying to imagine how good it must feel to have such a scary surgery behind you already; I can't really begin to imagine it yet, but I bet it feels pretty good.

At this point, I'm still not really comfortable with any of this, but, even so, I'm becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of having the surgeon I've already talked to perform the Ross Procedure on me.

He's already done over 200 Ross Procedures (in addition to lung transplants, heart transplants, other valve replacement procedures, etc.) In addition to that, I've had multiple doctors now tell me that they'd choose him if they or a loved one needed a valve replaced, and I've had several non-doctor people vouch for him as well (including one medical malpractice lawyer who generally has a good idea of which doctors to stay away from given how often they need his services).

I'm still planning to speak with another cardiologist and then to another surgeon, and I'm open to the idea that whatever they tell me could change my mind. Part of me wants to get up right now and drive to the nearest hospital and tell them to just get it done already. I owe it to myself and to my loved ones to take a more reasonable, informed approach, but I am NOT a fan of having this looming over me.

Frank DeGrazia  You've already got a lot of decision making behind you. As for the wait time, I hear you loud and clear. What helped me was the following:
1. Be in the best physical state I could be going into the procedure. So I wasn't able to swim anymore, wasn't able to jog, but I could still work outside in the yard keeping my leg and lungs as strong as possible.
2. On the pool deck we have the swimmers use stretch bands for tricep and chest repetitions. I used those on the deck when I was walking around coaching. Figured the better shape my chest was, the more vascularization those muscles had going in would affect the likelihood of a positive outcome. For me it worked, and so far my recovery has exceeded my target goals.
3. I am no Martial Arts Guru, but I set goals for myself: 2 week; 4 week; 2 month . I thought of the procedure as the board in Karate. They always say dont think of the board , think 12" below the board. It has worked very well at this point for me. If possible , When you set a date post it on your profile. Thanks and all the best Adam!