Pat's Profile

I am a 63 year old female retired Registered Nurse who now co-owns[with husband] and manages an Electrical Contracting [Service and Repair] firm in Santa Barbara County. I was scheduled to travel from California to the Cleveland Clinic to have my aortic valve replaced in January 2012, but when I did a final confirmation with my Insurance carrier, was told the Cleveland Clinic would now be considered an "out of network" hospital with prohibitive out of pocket costs. Well, I think sometimes things happen for a reason and as it turns out I am now very pleased to be going to UCLA and consulting with Dr. Shemin. Comparatively, UCLA's RN ratios are tops as are their mortality stats.....two biggies in my book! I had diagnosed aortic regurgitation since college, but never stenosis until recently. I believe I have 3 aortic leaflets, but they are congenitally not correct....they do not close tightly plus now I guess they are calcified and don't open either. I wanted to have my knee replaced in August of this year, when eyebrows were raised about my valve. Went to Stanford for a second opinion, and they said the valve had to be replaced before the knee surgery. So here I am