Bill's Journal

Adam Pick  Bill, You just made my day, my week, my month, my year. Nothing better than a surgical experience that is "remarkably unremarkable"! Love that!!! ❤️

Emily Rowley  I have read your Heart Story and Journal Posts. You have done your research well, which will help with a greater understanding of your condition. However if you have any questions please feel free to ask, I've been through full Open-Heart Surgery for Mitral Valve Repair. You write well too.
Take Care and hope to hear from you soon,
Emily.

Richard Puckett  I hope things go well for you this upcoming week! I am sure it will, as prepared as you are. I think you made a good choice by having your surgery done at a top hospital by a well respected surgery.

I will have a similar surgery done shortly for mitral valve repair and a LAD artery bypass graph, probably at Cleveland Clinic. I, too, was hoping for a robotic surgery, but, because of the LAD artery blockage, I am now hoping for a mini-sternotomy. We'll see!

Cheryle Bird  I've just read your Story having seen that your surgery is coming up on the 26th - same day as me :) However I am in Australia, so I figure I will be a little ahead of you. You've researched well which has helped prepare you for these coming days - so now it's time to take the next steps. I pray that all goes well for you Bill, that your surgery goes smoothly along with your recovery. It will be good to get this all behind you and have renewed vigour. I'll keep an eye out for your next posts. Smiles to you.

Franklin Wyrick  Good luck with your up coming surgery Bill. I have found a lot of assurances on this site and I'm very thankful to have found it.

Linda Yaff  Good luck Bill. I'm meeting with my surgeon tomorrow to at Univ of Penn - most likely picking a date. Best of luck to you

  Sounds like we all get to see how we get this fixed. I meet with my surgeon for the 1st time at 10:0 AM 4/12. So not wanting to go just gotta man up.

Adam Pick  Bill, Thanks for the kind words about the book. You are in great hands with Dr. Trento. So you know, I filmed a video with Dr. Trento about robotic MVR. If you haven't see it yet, here it is - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANcCwBnEl4E

Linda Yaff  Biological or mechanical? Any thoughts? Also - Adam - I have selected Dr Joseph Bavaria at Univ of Penn - you've met him at a conference before. Small world!

Bill Harrison  Adam, I have seen that video and many others you have produced; they were helpful, and from your videos here I selected Dr. Trento after seeing them.

Billy G  Hey Bill,

Dr. Trento repaired my aortic valve at Cedars-Sinai 4 months ago (November 2015). Most surgeons, including one of the guys whose name frequently pops up a lot at Cleveland Clinic, told me that repair was not an option, so while I understood Dr. Trento could not promise a repair, it was awesome to come out of surgery and have my dad tell me Dr. Trento repaired my aortic valve.

I almost hesitate to say too much because while my overall experience was great, I recognize that even with the best surgeons and best teams, outcomes are not always ideal. And bad surgeons can also have great outcomes.

My very general understanding is that the chances of a mitral valve repair are better than an aortic valve repair - it's just easier to do based on the structure of the valves and whatnot. A lot of the things I found online about Dr. Trento talked about his experience with mitral valve repair, so one concern I had about Dr. Trento was that I could find very little online with him talking about aortic valve repair/surgery. After meeting him, however, I was very comfortable with him and his capabilities. In view of everything I learned, I feel if Dr. Trento could repair my aortic valve when most other surgeons told me repair was not an option, I would trust him to attempt to repair my mitral valve if I needed that done as well.

I can't say I have a lot of experience with hospitals, and I tend to be fairly laid back (e.g., I am probably an ideal patient), but I can only think of positive things about my experience at Cedars-Sinai and the staff overseeing my care. One thing that stands out that may be important to many is that I had a private room to myself the entire time I was there (4 days post-op).

When the staff asked me what surgeon performed my surgery and I replied, "Dr. Trento," they all raved about him and told me he was the best they had. They told me that his patients usually recovered faster and were released faster because he was so good at what he does. As one example, after reading about surgery for months, I was expecting the drainage tubes to remain in place for at least a couple of days. I came out of surgery at 6 PM on a Friday night, and they pulled the drainage tubes by mid-day Saturday! The staff told me that there was something about the way Dr. Trento did his work that caused less trauma.

In my case, Dr. Trento preferred a full sternotomy to ensure he could have good access to my aortic valve and clearly see everything. I wanted him to do whatever he felt was best, so I did not even push for a less invasive option. However, you will likely find that many surgeons are more likely to use less invasive options for the mitral valve, and there are some good videos with Dr. Trento talking about using less invasive techniques for mitral valve repair.

One final note is that I've talked to some other heart valve surgery patients that never saw their surgeon once after surgery! Dr. Trento did not see me the first 2 days post-op only because it was a weekend and he had to go out of town, but he stopped by every other day to check in on me and had the other operating surgeon checkin on me when he was out of town. All of the nurses and the PA even told me I could have probably gone home on the third day post-op, but Dr. Trento wanted to personally see me the next day one last time to make sure he was happy with everything. Dr. Trento also went out of his way to schedule a post-op appointment on days they normally do not have those type of appointments so I could get home to Las Vegas 2 days earlier (otherwise, I would have had to wait through the weekend).

Feel free to ask me any questions anytime. If you prefer to talk privately, you can email me at wgainesgmail.com. I'm also happy to get on a call with you as well.

Bill Harrison  Thanks so much! I'll send you an email and perhaps we can talk on the phone. One question I have, in that you -- like I am -- live out of town. How often did you have to return to Cedars-Sanai after you were initially discharged and went home to Las Vegas?
Bill

Billy G  Bill, although we talked about all this on the phone, I just saw you replied here and figured I should answer your question in case it can help somebody else out.

After my initial discharge, Dr. Trento said he would want his team to see me to stay around LA for about 1 week and then go in for a follow up appointment. After that appointment, I returned home, and Dr. Trento said he does not need to see me again at all, unless I want to see him or something arises. He said my cardiologist can pretty much be in charge with everything moving forward.

Bill Harrison  Thanks again, Billy. Our 1-1/2 hour plus phone conversation was very helpful, your story is certainly interesting, and your attitude and generosity in sharing the time with me was great!

I have an appointment to see Dr. Trento on April 12 to get acquainted and see if we can make a successful plan. I saw my cardiologist here in Rancho Mirage yesterday, and he immediately forwarded all my records to Cedars-Sanai. Today I picked up two CD's with images of recent tests; I'll pick up one more soon to take to that appointment. My angiogram shows the probable need for one bypass procedure as well as the mitral valve repair, so I'm anxious to talk to him and learn if that can all be handled with the robotic system. Fortunately, my calendar is quite clear for the next few months. (Retirement is generous this way :-)

Ashley Molyneaux  Hi Bill -

I'm also currently dealing with dilated cardiomyopathy. They think with how large my heart is, that it could not possibly just be a valve issue. One theory is that it stretched the mitral valve causing the leakage. They've been putting off surgery to see if my heart and valve shrink. Amazing that your ejection fraction has almost recovered! I also have 20,000 PVCs a day so I often wonder if some type of resynchronizing device would help me as I know that many PVCs in a day can also contribute to cardiomyopathy. Your story just seems very familiar, but you've been treated and recovered and I haven't quite gotten there yet. That's great news! Best of luck with your upcoming surgery - I bet your heart will continue to recover.

Bill Harrison  Ashley - I forgot to mention that I had PVC's many times a day from my mid-30's until my cardiomyopathy diagnosis at age 64. At that time, I started following recommendations for supplements from a cardiologist's book I came across on recovering from heart disease, and the PVC's have stopped. I can't prove it, but I think there is a connection. I don't know how much that might have contributed to my current problems, but sooner or later, everything seems connected.

Ashley Molyneaux  Amazing! Do you mind if I ask what you were taking? I've been taking coQ10, Vitamin D and Magnesium and I eat lots of potassium. If you were having many a day, that could have definitely played a role. Glad to hear they've since stopped!