Just when we thought we were prepared......

Greetings Again!

 

Medicine is mostly science…but not entirely.  The human element of decision-making is crucial, as we discovered yesterday.  Here is the bullet-point summary regarding my open-heart surgery (which did not occur today):

 

• The cardiac catheterization test was performed at 10AM Monday. 
• Two significant findings emerged:  (1) I do not need an aortic bypass graft because the coarctation that was seen on the echocardiogram was not significant, and (2) the degree of aortic stenosis present is not as severe as the doctors thought.
• With these findings, we deliberated during the afternoon Monday while I was recovering from the cath procedure, and with the long-distance assistance of my physician brother Brad, decided to postpone the surgery.  THANKS, BRO!
• My cardiologist agreed with this approach, and she will see me for frequent exams and testing to determine when the stenosis requires correction.
• I am now able to look forward to a less-invasive surgical procedure to replace the aortic valve due to the elimination of coarctation as a significant problem.  In other words, I will be left with three small incisions rather than an 11-inch full sternotomy scar when this is over.

 

Patti and I want to thank you for your support.  I have heard from many of you, and your thoughts and prayers have been very comforting to us as we have been on this roller-coaster.  I definitely will need aortic valve surgery at some future date, but we are feeling that we now have a strategy in place to manage the process, and that is very positive.

 

Geoff

 

Posting Comments

I was just informed that you have to have a Google (or one of several other) IDs to post comments to Blogger blogs.  Sorry for the inconvenience, I didn’t realize that. 

 

<commercial on> However, you may want to get a Google ID if you don’t have one because of all the great free services they offer.  <commercial off>

 

You can always send me an email as an alternative.

 

Geoff

 

Ready to Go

Well, I think I’m as prepared as I can be.  We’ve got a nice sunny day today after several rainy ones, so we’re taking it easy, visiting Steve and swimming at his pool before it closes for the season.  Tomorrow I have to be at HUP at 9:00 for the catheterization.

 

Welcome!

A few years back, I started feeling lots of pain in my upper chest when running up hills.  As most of you know, I'm pretty active, though I was always an "intramural" athlete.  Patti finally convinced me to see a cardiologist in 2007, and after an extensive battery of testing, I found that I had what's known as a bicuspid aortic valve, and a moderate aortic stenosis (warning, there are explicit graphics in this link). However, it wasn't too severe, and I was told to resume normal activity.  Six days later I ran the 10-mile Broad Street Run in Philadelphia with no ill effects.  My cardiologist, Dr. Kelley Spratt at Univ. of Pennsylvania, advised me to simply rest more and stop running up hills.  That was easy advice to follow!  She and I were confident that I wouldn't need the surgery until I was much older.  My annual exam in 2008 showed no changes, so life went on normally.

Patti and I took up bike riding five years ago and (until this year) rode about 400 miles per summer.  Bike riding has never caused me any pain, and this year was no different.  So imagine my surprise when Dr. Spratt sat me down after my annual cardiac exam this past June and told me that the valve area had decreased 30% since my 2008 exam, and I had better prepare for surgery!  But that was the finding, so we scheduled the surgery for August 11.

Fate had other plans for me, however.  On July 5, just a week before my son Jordan's wedding, I was struck by a car while riding my bike in Cooper River Park.  The resulting injuries forced me to delay the surgery (and made for a pretty uncomfortable time at the wedding)!   I have recovered sufficiently to reschedule the surgery, and it's set for September 15 at University of PA Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia.

We'll post here occasionally leading up to the Big Day, and Patti will post here regularly after the surgery so you can stay updated on my condition.  Blogging is a two-way street, so I am counting on hearing from you also!  Please post often so I can keep in touch with our friends and relatives!  This may not be as interesting as cooking my way through Julia Childs' Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but it's a good way to stay in contact before, during, and after this process.