Carlos's Guestbook

Carlos Banuelos  I rented a place at 2900 Meadowbrook road. It worked for me but all the room were on the second floor. I was able to do stairs by the time I was discharged, but would recommend finding a place that has at least 1 bedroom on ground floor.

john roland  Thanks It appears stairs are going to be a problem. My wife is going to stay at the Holiday Inn Cleveland Clinic for the first week then I need to find another place for about 10 days. We just want a safe area. I surf at the Manasquan Inlet if you ever come to the Jersey Shore.

Carlos Banuelos  Hey John, good to connect with a fellow surfer on here. Send me an email if you want to chat about my recovery time with respect to surfing. I was back in the water in 10 weeks with no pain. clbanuelos75@gmail.com

Carlos Banuelos  Hi Paola, I had two telephone consults with him then met him in person once the day before surgery. Great surgeon, no complaints here. Talk to him about using internal fixation for when he closes your sternum (assuming he goes through your chest). I had very little pain and I attribute it to the plate he used to close the sternum and hold it together.
Regarding cardiologist, I just saw the one who they appointed to meet with me before surgery. I have a great cardiologist at home who follows me going forward. Feel free to email me if you want to discuss more. I don’t check this site too often anymore. glad I saw your message. Good luck with everything - you are in good hands. Clbanuelos75@gmail.com

Paola Gonnet  Carlos thanks a lot for your quick response if you don’t mind I Will send you an email with a couple of questions
My surgery is in 3 weeks and I have a lot anxiety
Thanks again !
Do you speak Spanish as well (

Erik Jensen  Hi Joe. I hope you don't mind me chiming in here. I'll start off with a qualifier reiterating what everybody says...valve choice is a very personal decision and you should choose what's best for you. Personally, I have really struggled with the valve choice over the past couple weeks and have done a ton of research. In fact I've spoken live to representatives from Edwards, Cryolife (On-X) and St. Jude Medical to gather as much info as I can. My surgeon strongly recommended a mechanical valve but I was sooo tempted to go with the Edwards Inspiris Resilia (tissue valve) after hearing about it from you. Though it's very compelling, I now I think I'm going with the On-X. Here's why...at 55 years old and active, the Edwards rep said the Inspiris will likely last me 8 years. The St. Jude rep put it at 7 years. Of course it could last longer but that'd be beating the odds according to these reps. A TAVR replacement valve would likely last a similar amount of time. As such that means I'm going back in for OHS in 16 years or so. I was so hoping the new tissue valves would last 15 years+ each but I now believe that's wishful thinking on my part. Also, if the valve has to be replaced at 8 years when will it start declining? 6 years? In the end I think I'd rather suck it up with the warfarin and potential valve noise and go with a "one and done" procedure. I will reiterate that the science says tissue valves are a good choice in older patients because they have less wear-and-tear on them (less physically active) and older people don't produce as much calcium. Both factors will result in a longer life for the tissue valve. Again, these are my overall thoughts and not meant to persuade you or anybody else...we've all got to do what's best for us personally. Best of luck deciding what's best for you!

Carlos Banuelos  Hi Joe, I echo Erik’s comments. My surgeon at CCF was very open to tissue or mechanical. In fact, a lot of people my/our age opt for tissue bc they don’t want to deal with coumadin. I talked pretty thoroughly with my surgeon and others, and ultimately ended up feeling the same as Erik. I surf and play a few other non-contact sports. I have been told that I should be able to continue to do so, but just have to take some precautions/know my limitations. Makes sense. Although I will say that I had my first blood draw yesterday with my INR at 2.0 and I couldn’t believe the bleeding and bruising on my arm. No looking back for me at this point though. I just didn’t want to have another surgery, although the surgery process wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. CCF is pretty amazing and made the experience as pleasant as possible. Hope that answers your questions. If not, feel free to send me an email and we can do all offline.

Carlos Banuelos  One thing I will add is my surgeon said he does about 190 AVRs per year with 15% of those being mechanical valves. Of those mechanical valves, he uses almost all on-x valves. I know that doesn’t help you choose between tissue/mechanical, but thought it noteworthy.

Carlos Banuelos  Yes, good luck with everything! I’ll keep a lookout for you. You will be well on the road to recovery soon.

Carlos Banuelos  Hi Mike, happy to share all of my research. In fact, someone else from this site just reached out with similar questions and we had a great phone conversation sharing information. Probably easiest to talk offline. Send me your number. My email is clbanuelos75@gmail.com

Carlos Banuelos  Thanks, Kaaren. I will take and appreciate any advice you may have. Today marks my 30 day countdown. I think that waiting these next 30 days is going to be tough. Kinda just want to get it over with now.