Brian's Journal

Hi All You All: I have not had a heat value replacement yet, but before the year is out, I will have a pulmonary valve inserted. Thus entitling me to join you group. You might find my medical history interesting. I was born with Teratology of Follett in 1952. At age two I had a Blalock–Taussig shunt to keep me alive long enough for the heart lung machine to be developed. At age six (6), 1958 Dr. Earle B. Kay, in Cleveland Ohio, repaired my heart with a patch and other things. I don’t know all that he did; I was only six at the time. However, I do know that he did not use a shunt within my heart. He did the surgery at St. Vincent Sisters of Charity Hospital in September of that year and he used the Kay-Cross Heart Lung Machine. It took 37 pints of blood to complete the circuit. I have not had any other problems with my heart until last year that was over 56 years at the age of 62. Now I must go in for my 100,000,000 mile tune-up, where they will fix my timing belt and give me a valve job. I wonder if there is anyone else out there who has gone as long as me before they had do to any work on their heart. How can I find out? Who is the longest surviving Open Heart Surgery patient in the world, who used a heart-lung machine? Thanks for reading this post