MattBamm
Member
Hello Everyone,
My name is Matt and I have been reading through these forums for about two months now since I found out I will be needed aortic valve surgery. I am scheduled to have surgery July 12th at the Cleveland Clinic with Dr. Pettersson.
Little bit about me:
I am 25 years old and from Dayton, Ohio. I played sports all of my life. Played baseball growing up and raced BMX for about 9 years. I have been with my soon-to-be wife Lindsey for seven years and we are getting married October 8th. I have two associate degrees; one in Computer Networking and the other in Cyber Security. (I am a “techie nerd”) I work for an amazing company as the sole I.T person. http://www.bundybakingsolutions.com
How I found out:
About 6 months ago I started working out. Trying to get my 145lb skinny body transformed into the muscle body that every girl dreams their guy would have. I started getting light chest pains after my workout once or twice a week. I was thinking it was just a pulled muscle or I was lifting too heavy. Lindsey and my roommates told me I should get it checked out but my procrastinating self kept putting it off thinking it was nothing serious. Finally, after 2-3 months I made an appointment on May 17th with my family doctor. Mind you, I haven’t been to the doctor’s office since my appendicitis in 1992! The doctor did the normal tests EKG, blood work, and then listened to my heart. She told me to give her a minute; she was going to go down the hallway to get some nurses. She came back with four and told each and every one of them to listen to my heart with the stethoscope. That is when I realized something may not be right. She explained that I had a heart murmur. That there was a leak in a valve and that that she didn’t want to scare me, but she wanted to send me right over to the cardiologist; Dr. Ashfaq Ahmed in Springfield, Ohio. When I arrived they got me right in and did an ultrasound on my heart. That was when they concluded that it was in fact a leaking bicuspid aortic valve. I apparently have had this all my life and didn’t even know it.
(I had a transesophageal echocardiogram(TEE) the next day to confirm)
Dr. Ahmed’s group wanted to do surgery the following week at Community Hospital in Springfield, Ohio but I declined wanting to get a second opinion.
Luckily for me, my boss has numerous contacts at the Cleveland Clinic; they got me in the following week. That is where I met with Dr. Rodriguez and his team (I say this biting my tongue but if you have never witnessed the Cleveland Clinic first hand, it is one of the most amazing places to witness not only the medical work done there, but everyone is awesome and has the upmost respect for each other). Dr. Rodriguez confirmed that it was indeed a leaking bicuspid valve and scheduled me to meet with Dr. Pettersson.
I met with Dr. Pettersson (super cool and definitely a one of a kind guy) and if a repair is not doable I am going to go with the On-X valve. I am kind of nervous about being on Coumadin but I think it’s for the best.
So here we are... A week until my surgery. I am neither really all that nervous nor scared about the surgery; I am just ready to get it over with.
I wanted to thank everyone on these boards for the great information they have posted; especially the admins for the time and effort they have put into them. I also wanted to give a shout out to Scott Eitman and Joyce Russo from the Mended Hearts Cleveland Chapter, as they have provided me an excellent support system (in addition to my family) and I definitely am looking forward to meeting with them. Thanks to all my family, friends and numerous people I have never even met for all the support. I hope to be able to give others the same support I have been given on these forums.
See you around!
Matt
My name is Matt and I have been reading through these forums for about two months now since I found out I will be needed aortic valve surgery. I am scheduled to have surgery July 12th at the Cleveland Clinic with Dr. Pettersson.
Little bit about me:
I am 25 years old and from Dayton, Ohio. I played sports all of my life. Played baseball growing up and raced BMX for about 9 years. I have been with my soon-to-be wife Lindsey for seven years and we are getting married October 8th. I have two associate degrees; one in Computer Networking and the other in Cyber Security. (I am a “techie nerd”) I work for an amazing company as the sole I.T person. http://www.bundybakingsolutions.com
How I found out:
About 6 months ago I started working out. Trying to get my 145lb skinny body transformed into the muscle body that every girl dreams their guy would have. I started getting light chest pains after my workout once or twice a week. I was thinking it was just a pulled muscle or I was lifting too heavy. Lindsey and my roommates told me I should get it checked out but my procrastinating self kept putting it off thinking it was nothing serious. Finally, after 2-3 months I made an appointment on May 17th with my family doctor. Mind you, I haven’t been to the doctor’s office since my appendicitis in 1992! The doctor did the normal tests EKG, blood work, and then listened to my heart. She told me to give her a minute; she was going to go down the hallway to get some nurses. She came back with four and told each and every one of them to listen to my heart with the stethoscope. That is when I realized something may not be right. She explained that I had a heart murmur. That there was a leak in a valve and that that she didn’t want to scare me, but she wanted to send me right over to the cardiologist; Dr. Ashfaq Ahmed in Springfield, Ohio. When I arrived they got me right in and did an ultrasound on my heart. That was when they concluded that it was in fact a leaking bicuspid aortic valve. I apparently have had this all my life and didn’t even know it.
(I had a transesophageal echocardiogram(TEE) the next day to confirm)
Dr. Ahmed’s group wanted to do surgery the following week at Community Hospital in Springfield, Ohio but I declined wanting to get a second opinion.
Luckily for me, my boss has numerous contacts at the Cleveland Clinic; they got me in the following week. That is where I met with Dr. Rodriguez and his team (I say this biting my tongue but if you have never witnessed the Cleveland Clinic first hand, it is one of the most amazing places to witness not only the medical work done there, but everyone is awesome and has the upmost respect for each other). Dr. Rodriguez confirmed that it was indeed a leaking bicuspid valve and scheduled me to meet with Dr. Pettersson.
I met with Dr. Pettersson (super cool and definitely a one of a kind guy) and if a repair is not doable I am going to go with the On-X valve. I am kind of nervous about being on Coumadin but I think it’s for the best.
So here we are... A week until my surgery. I am neither really all that nervous nor scared about the surgery; I am just ready to get it over with.
I wanted to thank everyone on these boards for the great information they have posted; especially the admins for the time and effort they have put into them. I also wanted to give a shout out to Scott Eitman and Joyce Russo from the Mended Hearts Cleveland Chapter, as they have provided me an excellent support system (in addition to my family) and I definitely am looking forward to meeting with them. Thanks to all my family, friends and numerous people I have never even met for all the support. I hope to be able to give others the same support I have been given on these forums.
See you around!
Matt
