5 Years!

[Dodger Fan]

I haven't been on here in a while, but today is the five year anniversary of my open heart surgery to replace my aortic valve with a St. Jude Mechanical Valve. My surgeon, Dr. Jeffrey Tyner at Scripps Green in La Jolla, CA told my wife that I had a "drop dead valve" so it's safe to say I wouldn't be here without this surgery. I've run 22 races (including 2 half marathons) since, so I guess it worked.

 

[Pete81]

Nice! Congratulations. To many more yrs and races!

 

[pellicle]

Love the good news stories

Keep on knocking them out of the park

 

[Soulfeelings]

Just passed 22yrs last week...Keep on, keeping on

 

[spartangator]

Excellent stuff! Thanks for the update, congrats on the races, and here's to many more for you!

 

[Chuck C]

Congratulations!!
This is great news and very glad that your valve is working great and that you are able to have such an active life.
I think that you meant to say Dr. John Tyner? Unless perhaps he has a brother also doing valve surgery at Scripps.
I have heard really good things about Dr. Tyner and plan to have a consult with him at some point. One thing I do when consulting with a cardiologist is ask them if they themselves had to have OHS, who would they choose. My cardiologist at Scripps did not hesitate to say Dr. John Tyner. I ask the same question of the techs when I get my echos- they have seen it all and I have found them to be great resources- the tech at Scripps told me the same thing- Tyner.

Keep up the running and the healthy living!

 

[Dodger Fan]

Congratulations!!
This is great news and very glad that your valve is working great and that you are able to have such an active life.
I think that you meant to say Dr. John Tyner? Unless perhaps he has a brother also doing valve surgery at Scripps.
I have heard really good things about Dr. Tyner and plan to have a consult with him at some point. One thing I do when consulting with a cardiologist is ask them if they themselves had to have OHS, who would they choose. My cardiologist at Scripps did not hesitate to say Dr. John Tyner. I ask the same question of the techs when I get my echos- they have seen it all and I have found them to be great resources- the tech at Scripps told me the same thing- Tyner.

Keep up the running and the healthy living!

I highly recommend him. When you meet him, he'll introduce himself as Jeff. Everyone who works for him and worships calls him Dr. Tyner. Most don't realize he goes by Jeff. It's it his Scripps Bio. I'm guessing we've had echo techs in common since I've been going to Scripps for over 20 years. Here's his bio Dr. John Tyner - La Jolla, San Diego - (scripps.org)

 

[pellicle]

Just passed 22yrs last week...Keep on, keeping on

I see we had the same surgeon (well for at one of my operations). Jalali is quite an amazing fellow. More energy than a young bull.

 

[Soulfeelings]

I see we had the same surgeon (well for at one of my operations). Jalali is quite an amazing fellow. More energy than a young bull.

Pellet lm new here only yesterday, still trying to find my way on the site n probably doing things the wrong way lol. I didn't have Jalali, hubby has him this month n he also did my nephew twice back in 2002 n about 2010.

 

[pellicle]

also did my nephew twice back in 2002 n about 2010.

He's a good man. Quietly spoken, iron will

 

[tom in MO]

Congratulations, may you have many more.

 

[Eva]

Happy News! Wishing you many more healthy years to celebrate.

 

[Chuck C]

I highly recommend him. When you meet him, he'll introduce himself as Jeff. Everyone who works for him and worships calls him Dr. Tyner. Most don't realize he goes by Jeff. It's it his Scripps Bio. I'm guessing we've had echo techs in common since I've been going to Scripps for over 20 years. Here's his bio Dr. John Tyner - La Jolla, San Diego - (scripps.org)

Ok, that makes perfect sense. He seems like an amazing surgeon. Does he prefer full sternotomy or minimally invasive, if you don't mind?

 

[Superbob]

All that and a Dodger World Series victory, too! Congrats, Dodger Fan, and best wishes for many more (valversaries, that is -- being a Cardinals fan, can't wish you a bunch more Dodger titles).

 

[nngbwh]

Congratulations - Keep up the good work !

 

[Dodger Fan]

Ok, that makes perfect sense. He seems like an amazing surgeon. Does he prefer full sternotomy or minimally invasive, if you don't mind?

I never discussed minimally invasive with him. I had formed the opinion for myself before that point that the best outcome for me was a full sternotomy with a mechanical valve. Dr. Tyner agreed with me.

I will tell you this. I ended up needing a pacemaker for total heart block 5 days after surgery (before going home). Your aortic valve is very near the A/V pathway. My valve was very calcified. I don't blame Dr. Tyner for any damage to my A/V pathway. I kind of blame my cardiologist. Maybe my blame is misplaced but I believe he waited until I threw a fit to refer me for surgery. And as mentioned in my first post I had a "drop dead valve". I thought he should have referred me at least 6 months earlier. He was smug and didn't really listen to me. Maybe if I had less diseased tissue to cut out my A/V pathway wouldn't have been damaged? Maybe not. I got a new cardiologist after.

Five years ago today (approximately 10 days after OHS) I woke up at home from a nap and was very confused. I had no short term memory. My wife drove me to the nearest hospital in Temecula. CT scans of my brain showed what they believed was a brain bleed. They told my wife that I would need brain surgery and might go blind or have a stroke. They contacted Dr. Tyner and he told them to fly me to Scripps Green immediately. Dr. Tyner called a neurosurgeon who was his friend and the best neurosurgeon he knows to come in on the weekend to treat me. My brain started working again on its own 24-48 hours after the onset of confusion. I spent another 10 days at Scripps (for a total of 17 out of 21 days) under the care of Dr. Tyner's team and I was well taken care of.

I couldn't get an MRI for 6 weeks due to the newly implanted pacemaker. Once I had an MRI it was determined that I had a transient ischemic attack (TIA or mini stroke). My anticoagulation therapy possibly helped me to not have any permanent damage. The brain bleed was not a brain bleed and turned out to be an incidental finding of a Rathke's Cleft Cyst (another birth defect/ I failed at gestation). It was benign and is being monitored at Scripps.

I feel like my treatment would not have been as good if I hadn't chosen Dr. Tyner. My wife feels the same. He seems to be the king of the building there. I recommend him.

 

[ottagal]

Congrats on your 5th! Wonderful and keep on running!

 

[Chuck C]

I never discussed minimally invasive with him. I had formed the opinion for myself before that point that the best outcome for me was a full sternotomy with a mechanical valve. Dr. Tyner agreed with me.

I will tell you this. I ended up needing a pacemaker for total heart block 5 days after surgery (before going home). Your aortic valve is very near the A/V pathway. My valve was very calcified. I don't blame Dr. Tyner for any damage to my A/V pathway. I kind of blame my cardiologist. Maybe my blame is misplaced but I believe he waited until I threw a fit to refer me for surgery. And as mentioned in my first post I had a "drop dead valve". I thought he should have referred me at least 6 months earlier. He was smug and didn't really listen to me. Maybe if I had less diseased tissue to cut out my A/V pathway wouldn't have been damaged? Maybe not. I got a new cardiologist after.

Five years ago today (approximately 10 days after OHS) I woke up at home from a nap and was very confused. I had no short term memory. My wife drove me to the nearest hospital in Temecula. CT scans of my brain showed what they believed was a brain bleed. They told my wife that I would need brain surgery and might go blind or have a stroke. They contacted Dr. Tyner and he told them to fly me to Scripps Green immediately. Dr. Tyner called a neurosurgeon who was his friend and the best neurosurgeon he knows to come in on the weekend to treat me. My brain started working again on its own 24-48 hours after the onset of confusion. I spent another 10 days at Scripps (for a total of 17 out of 21 days) under the care of Dr. Tyner's team and I was well taken care of.

I couldn't get an MRI for 6 weeks due to the newly implanted pacemaker. Once I had an MRI it was determined that I had a transient ischemic attack (TIA or mini stroke). My anticoagulation therapy possibly helped me to not have any permanent damage. The brain bleed was not a brain bleed and turned out to be an incidental finding of a Rathke's Cleft Cyst (another birth defect/ I failed at gestation). It was benign and is being monitored at Scripps.

I feel like my treatment would not have been as good if I hadn't chosen Dr. Tyner. My wife feels the same. He seems to be the king of the building there. I recommend him.

Thank you for sharing your experience with Dr. Tyner and his team. It is a really good thing that you did not allow them to go ahead and operate at Temecula and called Dr. Tyner. It sounds like you received excellent care.
Hey, we're neighbors! I live in Temecula too!

 

[Dodger Fan]

Thank you for sharing your experience with Dr. Tyner and his team. It is a really good thing that you did not allow them to go ahead and operate at Temecula and called Dr. Tyner. It sounds like you received excellent care.
Hey, we're neighbors! I live in Temecula too!

Small world!

 

[SteinBizzle]

He seems to be the king of the building there. I recommend him.

He'll be my surgeon in 2 weeks. It was really nice seeing these glowing reviews of him!