I just received this educational and inspirational note from Dr. Leo Hernandez, MD. I thought you might enjoy reading, seeing and learning about Leo’s heart valve surgery journey. He writes:
Good Morning Adam:
My name is Leo Hernandez and I had my bicuspid aortic valve replaced on my 57th birthday on January 6, 2009 by Dr. Richard [...]

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Wow! Talk about a response!
The comments and emails for “Heart Valve Stenosis - The Severity Of This Valve Disorder” have been non-stop for the past 24 hours. Thanks to everybody for sharing your thoughtful ideas, patient stories and questions. It’s great to see everybody participating in this discussion about aortic stenosis.

Aortic Valve With Severe Stenosis
As [...]

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This is fun…
I’m noticing a fantastic, new trend as of late. Many of my readers are now sending me pictures of themselves with my book. Here are two examples of Peter (from California) and Emmanuel (from United Arab Emirates).

I can’t tell you how great it makes me feel to receive your pictures, your emails, your [...]

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As a follow-up to our ongoing discussion about insurance (health, life) for heart surgery patients, I just inquired about getting health insurance from a local agent here in Los Angeles. The agent asked me some questions, we discussed my valve replacement surgery, and then… he went off to look into an individual health insurance policy [...]

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I was just listening to Dr. John Hong, M.D. discuss aortic stenosis on a webcast.
The data shared by Dr. Hong was quite alarming, even for me (considering my ongoing research into heart valve disorders). Specifically, Dr. Hong presented mortality rates for asymptomatic patients diagnosed but not treated for aortic stenosis, one of the more common [...]

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I just received the most fantastic picture of 5-year old Garrison Griffith. His mother, Vanessa, sent me this picture along with a very reassuring note about her son’s heart valve surgery.

Garrison Griffith - Ross Procedure Patient
Vanessa writes, “Here’s Garrison about a month after his Ross Procedure. It is now six months after the double, heart [...]

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Here’s an interesting, patient story recently posted at the Daily Mail Reporter in the United Kingdom. As you can read, there are several common elements previously discussed at this blog in Michael Birch’s story - asymptomatic patients, enlarged hearts, post-operative complications, thankfulness, etc.
The founder of social networking site Bebo has had open heart surgery just [...]

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I just received an anniversary note from Leslie Lafayette in California. I thought you might like to read how she is doing one year after mitral valve repair surgery.
Hi All,
One year ago today at this time I was wired up, prepped and trussed like a big turkey, ready to be wheeled into UCLA Medical Center. [...]

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I have to admit… I’m typically a little more relaxed when I make the annual pilgrimage to USC Medical Center to see my surgeon, Dr. Vaughn Starnes, for my check-up.
Since I’ve already seen my cardiologist, Dr. Rosin, I know that my heart is doing very well - after my last echocardiogram (a few weeks ago). [...]

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Every once and a while I receive a patient question that really, really, really stumps me. In those situations I simply post a blog about the topic to see if YOU have any ideas.
This just happened when I opened an email from Galina that focuses on sleep apnea, heart strain and heart valve function. Do [...]

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