jgibson
Well-known member
Hello everyone.
Just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and give you my history.
My name is Jeff Gibson. I live in the Murfreesboro, TN area (just southeast of Nashville, TN). I have known that I have had a mitral valve leak since I was about 8 years old (39 now). Never had any complications, never had symptoms. In fact, I can run 3 miles a day and have never run into any issues. However, I have always been curious of what the condition of my Mitral Valve actually was.
One evening after a band rehearsal at my church (First Baptist Church Smyrna), I got to talking with our drummer about my mitral valve. That's when he informed me he was an MRI tech at a heart clinic in Nashville. He offered to take me in on a Saturday and do a scan of my heart to see how everything looked (Love the free scans). Anyway, we found a Saturday and went in for the scan. Afterwards he told me that he thought the leak was in the moderate category and felt that I should meet with a cardiologist. He suggested Dr. Sean Hughes that worked with him.
I initially met with Dr. Hughes in late 2005. I've been sent in for echo's (the Doppler ones), standard EKG's, and in late 2006 he sent me in for another big MRI. This time they used the contrast so they could get a better look. Long story short, what they determined is that I actually have a severe leak. 44% of my blood volume gets regurgitated back through the valve. Also, my heart is right on the edge of starting to enlarge (I think I am just under 60% in size). So Dr. Hughes suggested that since there was data that showed taking care of a condition like this now (instead of waiting until my heart starts to show signs of actually enlargement), he felt I should get the valve fixed. He also felt that since I was healthy and in good shape, It would be a good idea to do this now.
Dr. Hughes gave me two surgeons names. Dr. Todd Shuman, and Dr. Michael Petracek. I met with Dr. Shuman in January of this year (2007) at St. Thomas. He explained to surgery to me, talked to me about my recovery time, answered basic questions for me. Nice Doctor, but he couldn't tell me if he could repair my valve, or if they would need to replace it. They needed to do a TEE to determine what they felt they could do. So in February, I went in for the TEE (My Cardiologist did this). The best words I heard for him after the procedure, was that it looked like the valve could be repaired. At that point, I decided to go ahead and meet with Dr. Michael Petracek because I had started to hear a LOT of good things about him. Anyway, I met with Dr. Petracek and was immediately sold on him. This was in March/April. Anyway, since I work as a software consultant, and am self employed, I asked if I could hold off until the fall. Dr. Patrecek said that would be fine, but he wouldn't wait more then a year.
So here is where I stand. I am scheduled for Mitral Valve repair at Vanderbilt on October 15th at 7:00AM. Their going to do the port access method, which Dr. Patrecek is well known for. Even does his replacements that way. I am going in for some additional appointments and a heart cath to get the road map before then, but my OHS is fast approaching.
I won't lie to everyone. I'm a bit nervous. Even though Dr. Petracek's track record is spectacular, you just never know.
I would appreciate any feedback from anybody else that has gone/going through this.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to get everything in. I've really enjoyed the website.
Thanks
Just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and give you my history.
My name is Jeff Gibson. I live in the Murfreesboro, TN area (just southeast of Nashville, TN). I have known that I have had a mitral valve leak since I was about 8 years old (39 now). Never had any complications, never had symptoms. In fact, I can run 3 miles a day and have never run into any issues. However, I have always been curious of what the condition of my Mitral Valve actually was.
One evening after a band rehearsal at my church (First Baptist Church Smyrna), I got to talking with our drummer about my mitral valve. That's when he informed me he was an MRI tech at a heart clinic in Nashville. He offered to take me in on a Saturday and do a scan of my heart to see how everything looked (Love the free scans). Anyway, we found a Saturday and went in for the scan. Afterwards he told me that he thought the leak was in the moderate category and felt that I should meet with a cardiologist. He suggested Dr. Sean Hughes that worked with him.
I initially met with Dr. Hughes in late 2005. I've been sent in for echo's (the Doppler ones), standard EKG's, and in late 2006 he sent me in for another big MRI. This time they used the contrast so they could get a better look. Long story short, what they determined is that I actually have a severe leak. 44% of my blood volume gets regurgitated back through the valve. Also, my heart is right on the edge of starting to enlarge (I think I am just under 60% in size). So Dr. Hughes suggested that since there was data that showed taking care of a condition like this now (instead of waiting until my heart starts to show signs of actually enlargement), he felt I should get the valve fixed. He also felt that since I was healthy and in good shape, It would be a good idea to do this now.
Dr. Hughes gave me two surgeons names. Dr. Todd Shuman, and Dr. Michael Petracek. I met with Dr. Shuman in January of this year (2007) at St. Thomas. He explained to surgery to me, talked to me about my recovery time, answered basic questions for me. Nice Doctor, but he couldn't tell me if he could repair my valve, or if they would need to replace it. They needed to do a TEE to determine what they felt they could do. So in February, I went in for the TEE (My Cardiologist did this). The best words I heard for him after the procedure, was that it looked like the valve could be repaired. At that point, I decided to go ahead and meet with Dr. Michael Petracek because I had started to hear a LOT of good things about him. Anyway, I met with Dr. Petracek and was immediately sold on him. This was in March/April. Anyway, since I work as a software consultant, and am self employed, I asked if I could hold off until the fall. Dr. Patrecek said that would be fine, but he wouldn't wait more then a year.
So here is where I stand. I am scheduled for Mitral Valve repair at Vanderbilt on October 15th at 7:00AM. Their going to do the port access method, which Dr. Patrecek is well known for. Even does his replacements that way. I am going in for some additional appointments and a heart cath to get the road map before then, but my OHS is fast approaching.
I won't lie to everyone. I'm a bit nervous. Even though Dr. Petracek's track record is spectacular, you just never know.
I would appreciate any feedback from anybody else that has gone/going through this.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to get everything in. I've really enjoyed the website.
Thanks
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