About Me (In My Own Words)
Here I am, a short, forever 18 months after surgery. I promised myself I'd go see a doctor about my bone-on-bone right knee after playing basketball in Mexico with a bunch of teenagers. Ouch! And apparently, I had gotten way out of shape as I wheezed, sputtered and sweated profusely while playing. Sure, as expected, my knee was toast...I had run it ragged by injury followed by surgery years before and becoming a marathon runner. Oh well, nothing lasts forever! What surprised me that day was that the nurse practitioner wanted to listen to my heart since I was not a regular customer in the doctor's office. Really? My strong runner's heart? On that single, life changing day, my health went from "fine" to "Holy ____, we got some work to do!!!" Through some simple listening tests, to an EKG, to an echocardiogram all in one afternoon brought me the news of a fat, juicy aneurism right at the root where my aorta meets my heart. And just for kicks, my aortic valve was "regurgitating lots! Cap it off with a healthy dose of bradycardia and, now it was time for some education! My brother, three years older, had had a major surgery for something similar. Hmmm. What's going on here? A quick call to him confirmed that he had had the same thing only 4 years before. And since we are both too old for warranty repairs, we had to figure out this coincidence ourselves! The knee doctor called with a "Too bad for you, we'll make an appointment after your heart surgery." message. Many tests later and many opinions of well-meaning friends and family as well, and it was off to receive the famous "Bentall Procedure" which has saved so many people since its inception. Many people here on this site are veterans of open-heart surgery as well as valve replacement surgery, so I need not go into great detail of recovery. It just went as good as it could go. Sure enough, a couple of months after surgery, my bradycardia became enough of a problem that I received a pacemaker. (I tell my granddaughters that it's my heart's clock.) Finally, it's time to get a knee replacement, the purpose of my original doctor's visit. It wasn't so bad...in fact, I could have been the poster child for knee replacement surgery, up and wandering around the first day and breezing through PT. In a few weeks I was sure that I had my hospital days behind me. And, for a few months, in fact, 6 months, I did! A sore back and a history of lower back surgery is not uncommon in America. In fact, it seems to be most "golden years" folk's birthright. And now, months after getting that new knee, I was at the gym lots, getting back in great shape and kinda almost being... hmmm... cocky about the whole thing. That's when my L3-L4 disc broke. It somehow broke! And when it did, it sent me sobbing and shaking and beyond straight to the ER. The broken disk had pieces that lodged into sciatic inside nerves to my right leg, first in excruciating pain and then, a day later taking away all feeling to the inside of the leg. But this journey seems to be a bit like meeting the coolest, most brilliant surgeons in a short time. The neurosurgeon magically removed the broken parts and at the same time opened up a part in my spinal column that had severe stenosis. This gifted surgeon somehow took away the background pain that I thought had just become part of life's crazy journey! Unbelievable!!! And at the same time, I did learn that the knee bone IS connected to the backbone! So, at this time of writing, I find myself at 6 months post back surgery. The heart episode at 18 months, seems like something that happened years ago. How lucky are we that procedures can be done with astonishing results?!? What miracles we are witnessing! I think I'll try and stay away from anatomy projects for a long time now!
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Woodside, CA
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My surgery date is:
March 28, 2024
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I was diagnosed with:
Aortic Regurgitation
Aortic Aneurysm
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My surgery was:
Aortic Valve Replacement
Aortic Aneurysm Replacement
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My surgeon is:
Dr. David Scollville
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My hospital is:
Kaiser Aortic Center, Santa Clara, CA
