“My 1st annual checkup was last August, and everything looked real good.”

I am doing well since my complex heart valve and dissected aneurysm surgery. My 1st annual checkup was last August, and everything looked real good.

It was a very long surgery,(wife said I was in the OR for 13 hrs) and took 30 days in the hospital. The surgeon replaced my previous mechanical heart valve (other brand), rebuilt my aortic root, and made his own graft. This had to be done due to pannus which was causing my valve to not function properly. A vascular surgeon addressed my dissection and aneurysm issues. My carotid artery came into the aneurysm, so he had to do a bypass to move it to a more stable area. He then coiled off the aneurysm, and then inserted a stent with 22 cm of dacron tubing attached to it into my aorta to help support my dissected artery. He calls this the “frozen elephant procedure”. The stent is sewn in, and the tubing hangs down from it inside the aorta.

I only got 10 yrs with my previous heart valve replacement. I sure hope my On-X heart valve can do better. I am hopeful that it does a better job protecting against pannus interference.

Rob