Garrett's Profile

I was diagnosed with bicuspid, mild regurgitation and a 3.9cm ascending aneurysm / aortic root at 20 years old due to a particularly attentive PCP that heard my very subtle murmur. I went back to regular monitoring at 25 years (I believe it was then around 4.4cm), and then at 29, my aneurysm shot up to 4.8cm with severe regurg so we thought it was surgery time. But it was then completely stable during annual checks for 7 more years until I was 36. Well I'm 37 now and my root has gone to 5.2cm and my heart has grown 1cm... so surgery is coming up on 10/7. I also suffer from massive anxiety, especially over health. I finally started therapy and Lexipro this year and man the timing couldn't be better because despite still being riddled with fear and anxiety, I'm taking it all okay! Whatever happens is gonna happen, heh. My surgeon will replace my ascending aorta with Dacron. He says I'm not a candidate for Ross but has no preference between the On-x mechanical or the Inspiris Resilia tissue for the new valve. My surgeon has no preference, but my cardiologist recommends the tissue valve due to no blood thinners.