Alina's Profile

Hi, all, I was born with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH, for short). Because of that, I have developed coronary artery disease (CAD) in my 30's, as well as carotid stenosis. When I was 35, they diagnosed me also with a bicuspid aortic valve which has been diagnosed with severe stenosis (area of 0.5 cm2 and velocity of 4.99 m/s) on Christmas Eve, 2015. While running more tests for my aortic valve stenosis, they also found out that I have a huge narrowing of the Left Anterior Descending (LAD) artery as well as of the OMB artery, which is an off-shoot of the LAD that both required by-passes. Although I have known that most of these will eventually translate into open heart surgery one day, it was not till Christmas 2015 that I have gotten an ultimatum for my upcoming open heart surgery. At the time of surgery (February 2016), I was 40 and I lived in Utah. Fast-forward a few months after Christmas, the surgery (February 11, 2016) ended up being a little more complex than originally planned: they found out that I had a tricuspid valve, after all, but two of the leaflets were glued together with calcification, so the valve 'looked' like a bicuspid valve; they replaced my aortic valve with an On-X mechanical valve, they replaced my ascending aorta, which was completely calcified, with a Dacron graft, and they repaired my aortic arch, which was pretty heavily calcified from many years of cholesterol buildup. They also did a quadruple by-pass surgery, instead of the original double they saw on the CT scan. During my hospital stay to recover from surgery (8 days total), I had am MI (myocardial infarction) in my left ventricle which made recovery a little more lengthy for my heart muscle. I had the surgery at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, and I never thought I would be in such a relatively small clinic for such a serious surgery. My surgeon (dr. John Mitchel) was one of the most amazing doctors I have met my entire life, as well as my cardiologist (dr. Charles Dahl). You find good people and good professionals in the most unexpected places. During my whole heart journey, I hope to gain strength and support from your amazing community. God knows I need both! I also would like to share my own experience, in hope that people facing OHS can gain some insight on what is possible. Thank you for taking me in. I also write a blog that follows my journey with FH and heart disease. The blog is here: https://livingwithfh.blogspot.com/