Emotions can be undeniably strong and turbulent as patients and their support groups experience heart valve surgery.
On one hand, I experienced a profound sense of appreciation and thankfulness during my recovery. Like many of you, I found myself swirling in waves of emotions that often triggered tears. In fact, the running joke with Robyn (my [...]

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Patients and caregivers often ask me about the immediate, post-op experience in the intensive care unit. Common questions include:

How long were you in the intensive care unit?
Did you experience pain immediately?
Was your family allowed in the ICU area?
How many tubes were sticking out of you when you woke up?

However, one of more common questions I [...]

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Not only is today the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year…
But, it’s also the anniversary of my aortic and pulmonary heart valve replacement surgery!

I have to admit… It is somewhat unbelievable to think that at this exact moment, four years ago, I was in the operating room at USC Medical Center. And, it [...]

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In addition to Robin Williams, Barbara Bush, Elizabeth Taylor, Ed Koch and many other public figures who had heart valve surgery in 2009…
Fitness pioneer Jack LaLanne is now recovering from heart valve surgery at his home in Morro Bay, California. LaLanne’s publicist, Ariel Hankin, said earlier this week that the 95-year-old underwent the procedure at [...]

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I’m very, very, very excited to announce that the new Heart Valve Surgeon Database (Version 2.0) is going public today. You will quickly note there are several advanced features of the database including:

A completely revised look (shown below). I found a web design team that made the database incredibly easy for patients and caregivers to use.

Over [...]

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