About Me (In My Own Words)
I’m a 48 year old male, in good health otherwise. I’ve known about the future need for surgery for the last 10 years when my GP discovered I had a heart murmur. With bi-yearly echocardiograms for the next 9 years, in January 2020, I was told my heart was so enlarged and strained that I was at risk of developing arrhythmia, so surgery was finally scheduled for 9/29/20. They did a heart catheterization on 9/28/20 in order to see if there were any blockages, in which case they’d do a bypass during the procedure. The morning of 9/29, before surgery, I met with Dr. Smith, who told me that the good news was that the catheterization showed I had no blockages to address, but because of the amount of calcification they discovered on and around the valve, they wouldn’t recommend their going through my armpit - as I’d requested. So the plan was they’d go through my sternum. They’d hope to do a repair of my mitral valve, but they’d have a natural (cow) replacement valve ready, in case they couldn’t make the repair work.
I woke up to learn the surgery had lasted nearly 6 hours- that my heart had been stopped almost that whole time. I also learned they’d successfully done a repair, but that due to the extensive calcification of the valve that the strength of the tissue may have been compromised, meaning it may not last a lifetime.
I healed fairly quickly in the hospital and went home on 10/3/20.
Today is 2 weeks since the surgery and I’m on wk 2 of my walking regimen: 10 minutes, 3 times a day.
I feel well, I’m off the opioids for 3 days, now, and am on the mend!
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
NYC, NY
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My surgery date is:
September 29, 2020
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I was diagnosed with:
Mitral Regurgitation
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My surgery was:
Mitral Valve Repair
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My surgeon is:
Dr. Craig Smith
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My hospital is:
New York Presbytarian/Columbia
