Medical Update: Breaking News!

 

Okay, before we get into the medical update, a tiny pet peeve: Back before I pulled the plug on cable *cough* virtue signaling *cough*, Fox News would run this graphic at the top of nearly every hour, alerting you to "breaking news". Typically, it was the same news they broke at the top of the last hour, and the hour before that and the hour before that...virtually all day! 

This is my roundabout way of saying there is some news, but it's really not that earth shaking, it's just the way Fox opens every hour on their news channel! 

Started to post this yesterday, but yesterday was a REALLY rough day physically. And the news was not that earth shattering, so I figured it could wait. Sorry for the delay.

Had a really good chat with a cardiologist from the St. Joseph's Heart Valve unit. Some new information (to me) . I had been leaning towards the open heart option, as opposed to the TAVR: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement , in which the new valve is inserted through a small incision in the leg. 

Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. I thought the open heart might provide two: the surgeon mentioned that with the open heart procedure, a small ablation could be made on the heart which could/should stop my A-fib, with its correspondingly higher risk of stroke. 

Second was the fear that if the aortic valve were already decreased in size, inserting another valve inside it would have, of necessity, decreased even further the area/diameter of the valve.

Dr. Waters, same name as my first GP in Stockton, back in the 60's (no relation), informed me that I was born with the largest size aortic valve. He may or may not have said you could see it from space! Therefore, they would be using the largest possible replacement valve. For all you folks saying I'm not "large hearted":

Neener, neener!

The other matter was that the ablation in question could also be performed, at a later time, through a transcatheter procedure, if needed.  The recovery time for even two transcatheter procedures pales before that of cracking open one's chest and fusing the bones back together. The downside is not having that really large scar to impress the ladies at the beach! 

Even in the unlikely eventuality of premature failure of the TAVR valve some years down the line, a new replacement valve could be inserted through the failed valve without removal. Even three TAVR procedures, one hour surgery versus four for open heart, one day hospital stay versus four, without the 6-8 week chest healing recovery, should be a walk in the park! 

The Heart Valve committee met after my appointment yesterday, and should be getting back to me soon. I believe their recommendation will be for TAVR, which I now agree with, and should be getting a schedule date perhaps as early as this afternoon. (Ever the optimist!) I will let you know as soon as I do. 

To use a sports analogy, we seem to be passing the clubhouse turn. The finish line is in sight. Thank you all for your prayers!