Richard's Profile

I knew about the valve problem in 1965. Went to the Cleveland Clinic for a catheterization in 1965. Back then a simple catheterization was a very big deal. Lived with the murmur for almost 60 years. When I turned 74, I started wearing out faster than usual. I'm a PGA member and was fairly busy giving golf lessons. I noticed that I was sitting more while teaching but really just figured I was getting old. Then one day while teaching a 6-hour class, I couldn't finish and had to reschedule. Made an appointment with my cardiologist and he added aFib to my heart concerns and he also suggested surgery. We met with Dr Gaudiani on Friday, 9/12 for well over an hour. He was very comforting. We mostly talked about golf and life in general. He also described the procedure. I still feared the procedure and recovery. Then at the end of or session, he said, "Well, I have time next Tuesday (9/16) if you want to fix it). And for some unknown reason, I said okay! Sure surprised myself!