About Me (In My Own Words)
I have severe aortic stenosis. My TAVR is this coming Monday morning (Nov. 20) at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle.
Dr. Sameer Gafoor -- first-class, world-class, very experienced in TAVRs -- is doing my procedure. He came highly recommended by my local cardiologist and my son, who's an anesthesiologist in Scottsdale, Ariz.
I am 76 and a retired newspaper publisher and editor. I live in Port Angeles, Wash., a small town on the Olympic Peninsula that's the gateway to Olympic National Park (and about 2.5 hours by road and ferry from Seattle and across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, on Vancouver Island).
I'd been having on-and-off minor chest pains . . . during exertion . . . for some time (which I chalked up to age), and I've had a heart murmur for years (I was diagnosed with mild aortic stenosis in 2016. No real followup, no bad symptoms to prompt any worries.)
I began a 4-day-a-week exercise class earlier this year. Before starting it I took two stress tests (non-conclusive treadmill and very thorough "nuclear." I passed.
If I don't watch my food and drink I also experience pretty severe acid reflux (I probably have GERD; something to be checked out after my TAVR).
My road to a TAVR began during a Bristol Bay, Alaska, fly-fishing trip the second week of August.
I was fine the first two days of fishing -- then, on the third day, Aug. 7, I could barely walk during a rather strenuous 90-minute hike up and down hills along a remote trout-and-salmon-filled creek named Idavine. (Great fishing, by the way.)
I made it back to the float plane, but only by resting every 5 minutes before trudging onward (oddly, perhaps, I had no chest pain).
There were similar walking problems the next day at Margo Creek, and on the return to Anchorage that evening during a very short walk to a restaurant. I was retaining water big time -- I left Seattle weighing 180 pounds. I returned at 198. My legs were swelled -- all water weight, apparent evidence that my heart wasn't pumping well.
I got checked out by on my return to Port Angeles, which led to blood tests and ultimately an echocardiogram, which found the problem -- my aortic stenosis had gone from mild to severe (peak velocity 5.0 m/s, mean gradient 61 mmHg, AVA 0.6cm2, with mild aortic regurgitation).
Many medical meetings followed in late August and September, with a local cardiologist and by Zoom with Dr. Gafoor in Seattle.
In early October I passed my pre-TAVR CTA-C/A/P, angiogram (by Dr. Gafoor, a great guy) and five meter walk (Google that one!) at Swedish plus EKG, lung tests and carotid exam at our local hospital, Olympic Medical Center here in Port Angeles. OMC sent my test results to Dr. Gafoor and Co. at Swedish.
Right now I usually feel fine, abeit increasingly fatigued most afternoons and sharp shooting pains at times down my left leg. (Related to my clogged valve? Maybe, I was told. I'll see how I feel after the TAVR.) I keep my heartbeat between 60 and 100.
I signed up at Adam Pick's free, award-winning and very helpful newsletter about heart valve disease, www.heart-value-
surgery.com. Its Nov. 2 edition answered alot of my questions.
It's titled: "Bioprosthetic Versus Mechanical: Which Valve is Right For You?" To read it, click on:
https://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/learning/bioprosthetic-mechanical-valves/
Been doing lots of reading -- all about SAS and how it kills 8,000 (mostly men) every year. And all about TAVRs -- I'm in celebrity company! Henry Kissinger, Mick Jagger, Arnold S., Jack LaLanne. Robin Williams, Barbara Bush!).
Not looking forward to the whole hospital gig on Monday -- but I certainly need to get this done. And I'll be in the hands of experts.
I'm looking forward to getting back to my daily exercise class and more fishing trips after the TAVR.
Happy to answer any questions. Fins up!
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
-
I am from:
Port Angeles, WA
-
My surgery date is:
November 20, 2023
-
I was diagnosed with:
Aortic Stenosis
-
My surgery was:
Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement
-
My surgeon is:
Dr. Sameer Gafoor
