About Me (In My Own Words)
My BAV was diagnosed when I was 18. I was told then that I would most likely need my aortic valve replaced when I was 40. I did my yearly check up and not much changed from age 18 to 42. I really did not notice much of a decline from the time I had my last echocardiogram in Nov. 2022. In March of 2024 I was running, sprinting actually, and I knew I was about to pass out. I woke up face down on the side walk. I had hit my face pretty hard and was pretty scraped up from the fall. I had an echo the next day and was told by my cardiologist, the same cardiologist that diagnosed my BAV, that I was in heart failure and my left ventricular had enlarged. I was shocked that 15 months earlier my heart showed no signs of change and there I was being told I had heart failure. My LVEF had gone from 69% to 35%. I asked my cardiologist how common it was to have this rapid of a decline. He said it is uncommon but not unheard of. My cardiologist instructed me to find a cardiothoracic surgeon for intervention treatment. I had no clue where to go or what surgeon would be best. I asked my Dr. If this were his heart who would he go see. He provided me with 3 names. The first name he said was Dr. Selzman at the U of U Hospital in Salt Lake. Next was Dr. Dody in Ogden, UT at Mckay Dee. The last was Dr. Caine at IMC in Salt Lake. After researching the surgeons I was most interested in seeing Dr. Selzman first. It helped that he was the chair of cardiothoracic surgery at the U of U and ran the residency program for the med school. A few days after making my first appointment I found out my insurance only considered the U of U Hospital to be in network. All 3 surgeons were in network but only Dr. Selzman had privileges at the U of U Hospital. I was not too worried as my out of network coverage would have cost an additional $2,000. When considering surgeons I felt that that amount of money could not be a factor. We would find a way to pay the difference. $2,000 is a lot of money in my opinion. After my appointment with Dr. Selzman I felt strongly that he was my guy. I loved his sense of humor and the way he explained things. I could tell he had a passion for helping people and loved fixing issues with the heart. I did meet with Dr. Caine's team. They all seemed nice but wanted additional tests done before I would meet with Dr. Caine. I am sure he is fantastic. I have heard from many of his patients and other Dr's that he is one of the best. Rather than waste anymore of Dr. Caine's time and his teams time I decided to go with Dr. Selzman. After several months of various tests and trying to verify the root cause of my heats rapid decline Dr. Selzman set a date for surgery. I had decided that if we were going to replace the valve that I would go with the Ross Procedure. Dr. Selzman agreed that was the best option if a replacement was required. He informed me that my valve did not look in that bad of shape from the imaging we had and that if the valve was repairable that would be plan A. Plan B was if we needed a replacement he would do the Ross Procedure. Plan C was to a use a bioprosthetic valve. Dr. Selzman was focused on preserving my quality of life without putting my heart in more risk than necessary. I agreed with his approach. In Sept 2024 I had open heart surgery and Dr. Selzman and team were able to repair my bicuspid aortic valve. They inserted a HAART 200 Aortic Ring. Dr. Selzman closed the part of my valve that was allowing the regurgitation. The hope now is that with the regurgitation stopped my heart will begin to recover and the left ventricle will strengthen back to a point where my LVEF % increases. The hope is it improves enough that I will no longer have heart failure. Hopeful thinking! I have been seeing the Heart Failure team at the U of U to track my condition. I have been working with the HF team to increase my meds to the optimal dosing for HF. I will have my first echo in July since October 2024 to see if things are improving. All in all heart failure is not as scary as what I thought when I was first diagnosed over a year ago. The biggest thing I have learned was in my case I have to be patient with the tests and let the Dr's look at all options, run the tests they want or need. It was a long road to get to surgery because of it was hard to see how bad my regurgitation really was. Surgery was not fun but know that going in and push yourself to get up, walk, do the exercises and therapy. There will be pain. Mine was not as bad as I thought it would be. Take the meds. They work. Know that it is okay to have a bad day here and there but you can't take it out on those supporting you. Last thing I will add is don't be afraid to push yourself every day after surgery it will help you recover faster. For those dealing with heart issues and pending or post surgery it will get better and you will get through it. May you be blessed with a positive outcome, strength, and more days ahead.
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Brigham City
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My surgery date is:
September 8, 2024
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I was diagnosed with:
Bicuspid Aortic Valve
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My surgery was:
Aortic Valve Repair
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My surgeon is:
Dr. Craig Selzman
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My hospital is:
University of Utah Hospital
