Chad's Posts

I am a bit shell shocked. A little over a week ago I was an active, healthy 48 year old, running, lifting, hiking, fly fishing. I was training for a Hyrox competition with my sister and had to stop my run after just a mile. I felt light headed, dizzy and just had to STOP. It happened again a couple of days later. Glad I listened to my body and visited the doctor. 8 hours later after an Echo, I was diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve with moderate to severe stenosis (1.1 cm^s and 3.9 velocity). I'm scheduled for a CT Scan in a week and then we will see. I've been talking over my options with cardiologists and a surgeon that I know, watching all the videos I can find, reading research and just trying to figure out what to do. I feel fortunate that I have friends and resources to deal with this. Despite that it's scary and difficult to figure out what to do and where to go. Confronting my mortality isn't something I have really dealt with very often. I'm currently leaning towards a Ross Procedure, but there's still a long way to go between where I am and there (am I a good candidate, finding a surgeon, etc.).