novice looking for advice

[Innercalm]

my son (age 34) has mvp with regurgitation (severe) he is being watched by a surgeon at mayo scottsdale. surgery is not yet indicated the surgeon says, because the ventricle is not enlarged and he has no symptoms. the anterior leaflet is involved and we hear that it will be difficult to have a repair.
Are there advantages to being evaluated at Mayo in Rochester or the Cleveland clinic in Cleveland where many more cardiac patients are seen?
Obviously we want the best possible outcome when the time comes for surgery.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has experienced either the cleveland clinic or the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. This is not a dress rehersal and naturally we want to feel confident about our hospital choice.

 

[tobagotwo]

In general, when looking for a heart surgeon, the more heart surgeries the surgeon does per year, the better his record becomes.

I don't know what the story is with Mayo in Scottsdale. If it is a retirement area, they may get quite a few heart surgeries. Certainly The Cleveland Clinic sees a tremendous number of heart patients.

One thing I would do is get all the past echo records of your son, and compare the ventricle sizes on them. The ventricle can grow quite a bit and still be "normal" size by the book. same with the atrium measurement and the ventricular wall measurements. If you see advancing sizes in the echoes, I would point out this trending, which is frequently overlooked.

Also, symptoms are not always readily noticed or acknowledged, even by the patient. There is a certain internal denial, often unconsciously, especially with males. There is also the fact that the symptoms creep up very slowly, day by day, and are not always easy to recognize, due to their appearance in tiny increments. Internally, it's shrugged off as being a little out of shape, overtired, getting a bit older, etc.

Be aware of the wide range of ways in which angina can be felt. For some, it is classic left chest or left arm, or back, but many feel it differently. For me, it was a feeling of tightness at the top of my throat, or sometimes a sensation like I had been breathing hard in cold air. It can be jaw pain or neck pain. And by pain, we're not usually talking agony. We may be just referring to a feeling of discomfort or a tightness. It doesn't always show up after exerting yourself, and may show up when you don't feel like you're exerting yourself.

Another symptom is tiredness. This may also lead to weight gain, as the body can only recover energy with sleep or food. As this advances very slowly, over time, it is often blamed on other things.

Just some thoughts.

Best wishes,