DANNY's Journal

I finally got my Heart Cath and T.E.E. 6/28 and met with my cardiologist on 6/30. He recommended Mitral Valve Repair surgery. There are no surgeons in this area that do robotic assisted surgery so I scouted out Dr. Clifton Lewis at UAB Birmingham. Gloria in his office was wonderful to work with. When I couldn't get documentation sent from my cardiologist office, she took the ball and kept after them until she had what Dr. Lewis needed.

On July 9th I traveled up to Birmingham and checked into the Courtyard which is just across the street from UAB hospital. The next day was meeting with Dr. Lewis (Who is great to talk to and he gives you great confidence in him.) and all the pre-op tests (Which are all in the same building.). I was at UAB at 5:30 am on 7/11 where I was prepped for the surgery. In the operating room I had 4 or 5 people working on me all the time until the anesthesiologist put me out!

The next thing I know I'm waking up in the Recovery Room where I found out I didn't have surgery. Later when in a regular hospital room Dr. Lewis and his assistant came in and explained what happened.

They got all the way up to getting ready to start cutting and he performed another T.E.E. and found the leakage only at a moderate level - they even raised my blood pressure to see if that made it worse - it didn't. He then made the decision not to perform the operation.

He has referred me to a Structural Heart Cardiologist so he can track me over the coming years. Dr. Lewis thinks I may never have to have it fixed and if anything needs doing in the future years the cardiologist can go through the groan and insert a device to rectify the problem.


I know this is pretty long but I want to add that Dr. Lewis' staff are all top notch and I found everyone at UAB to be great. I'll certainly make the 5 hour drive if I need any serious medical care.

Well my Heart Cath and TEE are finally scheduled for June 28th and I have follow up with the Cardiologist on the 30th. Hopefully I'll be able to do robotic assist Mitral valve repair!