Richard's Profile

I was very active biking, hiking, and paddling until Nov 2015 when primary care Doc noticed heart murmur. Cardiologist confirmed moderate aortic stenosis Dec 2015. Was able to stay very active for another year although I noticed decreasing tolerance for sustained higher intensity exercise. I started really noticing what I now know to be afib after that, and it has progressed since then. 6/30/2017 confirmed severe aortic stenosis with through cardiac catherization. I first found Dr Gaudiani here. Both he and El Camino hospital are highly rated through STS (society of thoracic surgeons). I got a word of mouth recommendation from a friend who had Dr Gaudiani for bypass surgery a year ago. When I asked my cardiologist for a referral to him she smiled and said "he's the best". Consultation was great. When he found out I was a mechanical engineer we had a nice nerdy talk about stenosis and afib, but since my wife was present he also explained it succinctly to her in layman's terms. He explained my options to me clearly and left we with a lot of confidence in how we're proceeding (AVR + Cox/Maze III). What a knowledgeable, nice, and classy guy.