David's Profile

I was born with a bicuspid aortic valve. At age 43, I needed to have surgery to replace the valve. My cardiologist at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles helped me evaluate my 4 options for surgery. After much research, I decided to have the ROSS procedure. Due to the complexity of the procedure, my next step was to find the best surgeon regardless of geographical location. Even though there are amazing surgeons at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles, none of them specialized in the ROSS procedure. As I expanded my search, I discovered Adam Pick's Heart Valve Surgery Blog for Patients. The blog was incredible. It had every resource a heart valve patient would ever need, including recorded interviews with world renowned heart surgeons. Thanks to Adam Pick's blog, I discovered Dr. Ismail El-Hamasy from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Not only is he a MD but also has a PhD with an emphasis on the aortic. He is arguably the smartest mind regarding the aortic. He has performed over 600 ROSS procedures. Not only is he one of the best surgeons, he has incredible bedside manners. When my wife and I first met Dr. El-Hamasy, he immediately put us at peace and we knew we had the right surgeon. The surgery was successfully performed on 2/9/2022. I am now back to full health & exercising regularly. Even though I had to jump-through hoops with my insurance company to have the surgery out-of-state and also deal with the logistics of traveling across the country, it was well worth it. I am so grateful and indebted to Dr El-Hamasy & Adam Pick. Because of my gratitude for all those that generously helped me, I would be happy to answer any questions about my experience and how I was able to obtain out-of-state authorization from my health insurance company. My email address is davidbudge8@gmail.com