Looking for testimonials

[John M.]

Do any of you have any information or recommendations about Dr. Randolph Chitwood or his partner Dr. Mark Williams at the Eastern Carolina University School of Medicine in Greenville, NC. I am going to need an aortic valve replacement along with CABG in the near future.

 

[Nancy]

Hi John-

I seem to remember Dr. Chitwood's name coming up a few times. Why not do a search right on this site and see what comes up. Just search on Chitwood.

 

[bvdr]

We have a member Alicia who had a repair done by Dr. Chitwood. Check her member profile. I hope this helps.

 

[alicia]

Hello John and welcome to this great site. Yes, Dr Chitwood did my first surgery on April 24, 2001 at Pitt County Memorial Hospital. His partner Dr Williams did bypass surgery on Dr Chitwood when he needed it a few years ago. They are both great doctors. Dr Chitwood is very personable and smart as a whip. He is well known across the country. I have seen him several times on Discovery Health channel.

In my case he performed robotic mitral valve surgery. I was the first patient in the second trial phase. Unfortunately, 6 months later the valve was leaking again very heavily and I developed several other heart problems. Was this caused by the robot, who knows? He had put a ring around my valve to stop the leakage but it did somehow not work properly so I ended up having my mitral valve replaced early this year at Duke at the agreement of myself and my cardiologist whom sent me to Duke to a colleage of his that is a specialist in dealing with the mitral valve and it was determined by that cardiologist that I needed surgery and he referred me to his colleage at Duke and he (Dr Glower) did the surgery.

I am doing fine now and just have gotten over another minor surgery I had to have in August (not heart related).

I have no hard feelings for Dr Chitwood what so ever. I think he is a fine cardiac surgeon and his reputation speaks for itself. His staff is excellent and they will take very good care of you should you choose him. He has a nurse that is his right hand and her name is Donna Lou and she is the best! PCMH is an excellent hospital.

Good luck to you and please keep us updated. Please tell us your story.

Alicia

 

[maxximom]

John just to let you know that there are some of us out there who have had both surgeries. I had my Aortic Valve replaced along with a triple bypass almost 2 years ago Sept25 2001 at Duke by Dr Glower. I'm sure that you will get response from Alicia who had Mitral Valve surgery done by Dr. Chitwood and liked him very much. If I can help in any way feel free to email me..there are not too many of us who have had both operations at the same time. I don't believe though that having both is any more difficult for the patient than just the AVR..One added plus..you get to go to ReHab..after aCABAG and don't with just a AVR in most cases.. Gotta look for the extra goodies right

 

[alicia]

John, I just figured out who you are. Im sorry about that. Hows things looking so far as the surgery and your symptoms? We havent heard from you in awhile. I saw Dr Chitwood on our local news the other day, he had been given a salary increase to almost a million dollars a year with ECU. He is one of the best in the country though. As many lives as he has saved he probably deserves it. He is a brilliant man! Good luck to you my friend.

Alicia

 

[John M.]

Looking for testimonials

Alicia and Maxximom --

Thanks so much for your responses. I will know more about my need for surgery in two days when I go into the cath lab in Florida and my local cardiologist assesses the situation. I have two overlapping stents in my LAD that have re-stenosed. Brachytherapy has been used at these sites but there seems to be recurrence of re-stenosis. There is a chance I will need to have the CABG and if I do I am being told that I should have the AV replaced at the same time. I am somewhat concerned about the AV surgery, since the valve is still showing an opening of 1.29 and a gradient of only 20. The doctor calls this a conundrum -- on the one hand it may be premature to do the AV, but on the other hand the CABG may not be able to be put off. The information I am getting is that a premature AV replacement is better than having to deal with two separate open heart procedures. This has me very confused and ambivalent.

 

[alicia]

Good luck John. I know all this sounds confusing but Im sure you will make the right decission and leave the rest to the doctors. Please let us know how the cath goes and what the results are.
I will say a prayer for you. Did you dodge TS Henri?

Alicia