Surgery scheduled w/ Dr. Ryan!

[boomersooner]

I believe that was actually Lieb that said something about a mechanical valve not lasting a lifetime, however my surgeon did tell me the same thing. I have actually spoken with 3 surgeons and been told the same thing by two of them, that is also why I did not ask a ton of questions to the last doctor I spoke with. Dr. Ryan (the guy doing my surgery) said that he can repair the BAV under certain circumstances i.e. calcification is none existent and all that fun stuff. Not sure if it is the David Procedure is what he will use, but I know there are 3 types of repair techniques that I have read about online and it does include repairing the BAV. Check out http://www.ctsnet.org/sections/clinicalresources/adultcardiac/expert_tech-19.html . Here are the three types of repair techniques that I have found.

? Yacoub operation most indicated in case of absence of AR
? David operation in case of AR without prolapse
? Repair of the cusp prolapse and David operation in case of additional prolapse


They actually leave the aortic valve with two cusps but stop it from leaking. Dr. Ryan has done lots of repairs and is well known for his expertise in aortic valve disease so I am very confident with his recommendation!

Thanks rckrzy! I have been told nothing but great things from everyone on here about Dr. Ryan. That is one of the things that prompted me to go from Tulsa to Dallas for his expertise.

P.S. BOOMER SOONER topel! Did you hear we lost Reggie Smith for the game?.thats a bummer 

 

[kfay]

Boomersooner, we are scheduled for surgery on the same day, the 9th. I'll be at Mayo. I wish us both great results and an easy recovery!!!

 

[CHDDoug]

New to this site - Bicuspid Aortic valve - 33 yrs old

New to this site - Bicuspid Aortic valve - 33 yrs old

Well, Where to begin.. Long story short, I need your help, guidance , advice whatever you want to call it!!!
Our first born son, was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart and passed away at 2 1/2 months old after the Norwood by Dr. Bove at U of M, that was when I was diagnosed with the BAV..
I am a healthy, active 33 yr old guy, whom was just told by my Cardiologist that I need surgery within the next 3 months. My wife is pregnant with our 3rd child due in 1 month and all of this has hit us like a ton of bricks!
I thought I would have more time, atleast a year to prepare and conduct research!!!
I have a Bi-Cuspid Aortic Valve with severe regurgitation and slight stenosis.
I am leaning toward the Ross Procedure because of my age and lifestyle but would like to hear about your experiences, especially those of you whom have had the Ross Procedure.
I have been reading historical threads on here for several weeks now, trying to learn the lingo...
We have researched several of the great Ross doctors but due to the fact that I will have a one month old child, we are trying to factor in convenience as well as success rates of surgeons.. Our local surgeon at Vanderbilt here in Nashville, has performed 77 of the Ross surgeries and we have been told if we did it here, he would perform the surgery in conjunction with the Pediatric Cardiothoracic surgeon whom performs the Ross on children.
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks,
Doug

BAV with severe regurgitation - 33 yrs old

 

[Lynlw]

Well, Where to begin.. Long story short, I need your help, guidance , advice whatever you want to call it!!!
Our first born son, was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart and passed away at 2 1/2 months old after the Norwood by Dr. Bove at U of M, that was when I was diagnosed with the BAV..
I am a healthy, active 33 yr old guy, whom was just told by my Cardiologist that I need surgery within the next 3 months. My wife is pregnant with our 3rd child due in 1 month and all of this has hit us like a ton of bricks!
I thought I would have more time, atleast a year to prepare and conduct research!!!
I have a Bi-Cuspid Aortic Valve with severe regurgitation and slight stenosis.
I am leaning toward the Ross Procedure because of my age and lifestyle but would like to hear about your experiences, especially those of you whom have had the Ross Procedure.
I have been reading historical threads on here for several weeks now, trying to learn the lingo...
We have researched several of the great Ross doctors but due to the fact that I will have a one month old child, we are trying to factor in convenience as well as success rates of surgeons.. Our local surgeon at Vanderbilt here in Nashville, has performed 77 of the Ross surgeries and we have been told if we did it here, he would perform the surgery in conjunction with the Pediatric Cardiothoracic surgeon whom performs the Ross on children.
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks,
Doug

BAV with severe regurgitation - 33 yrs old

Hi Doug, I am very sorry about your son. May I suggest you start your own thread so everyone will see it? you may get more responses that way. Lyn

 

[CHDDoug]

Ok

Ok

Thanks...I will start a new one. Wasn't sure how this worked.

 

[geebee]

Boomer - sounds like you have everything in place and I wish you all the best. I hope you get your repair and we look forward to reports on your successful surgery.

Lieb - I would like to take exception with your doctor's comment on mechanical valve longevity. While it is true that many people need reops (myself included) with mechanical valves, it is not the valve that fails, rather our own systems cause problems. In my case it is excessive scar tissue encroaching on the valve and causing problems.

In a person who does not produce a lot of scar tissue, there is no reason to believe a mechanical will not last a lifetime. In addition, even with a "failure" of a mechanical valve, there is none of the deterioration that happens during the failure of our original valves. I was so sick for so long before my first surgery, that coumadin is a very small price to pay to avoid. A tissue valve will fail similarly to our original valve. If someone is symptom free prior to surgery, certainly that might not be a factor but many people spend years with a less than perfect activity level.

I am NOT trying to change anyone's mind; I just wanted to clear up what I believe to be misinformation on the doctor's part.

 

[tcopel]

Hey Boomer,
Sounds like you've done your homework and you feel comfortable with your decisions. Thats great. Let us all know about whats goin on if your dont mind, as we all tend to worry a bit about our brethren here on VR.

By the way, R. Smith going down is a bummer particuarly facing a running team like WV on the corners but L. Holmes should do well dont you think?

To Kfay, all will be well. Will be thinkin of ya' and Mr Sooner and sending prayers each and every day

 

[boomersooner]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I will make sure and update everyone with my status after the surgery. My wife might be on here udating everyone since I will be worn out.

I think Holmes will do pretty good during WV. Lets keep hope we dont get alot of trickery pulled on us like last year

 

[CHDDoug]

Dr. Ryan

Dr. Ryan

Boomer,

Good luck on your surgery with Dr. Ryan. We have selected him as one of our top surgeons to get a second opinion from and Dr. Stelzer in NYC for my husbands upcoming BAV - Ross Procedure surgery.
Any reason you selected the Baylor hospital for the surgery rather than the Dallas Presb. one?
We will be following your update on the other side of the mountain as y'all say on VR, so please have your wife keep us posted..

Many prayers coming your way!!
Doug's wife - Heather

 

[boomersooner]

Howdy CHDDoug

I selected the Heart Hospital Baylor Plano since it was brand new and full of new features and technology, no real reason, it just seemed like a nice place that I wouldn?t mind spending 4-7 days . Dr. Stelzer is one of the best at the RP, I know Stretch on here had his RP done by Dr. Stelzer and has pictures from the entire thing, you will find people posting the link all the time
Dr. Ryan has lots of fans on this site. He has done a lot of RP, not as many as Dr. Stelzer but close to 300 I think. He is also an expert in valve disease as a whole and can recommend some pretty neat options. He is very nice and full of knowledge and took his time answering any questions we could think of. . I am looking forward to waking up after the surgery to find out what kind of procedure I got! We are pulling for the repair but we will see, I suppose anything can happen when they get in there.

 

[MaryC]

I'll answer for Boomer! There were several reasons I wanted to have my surgery at the Heart Hospital in Plano. I liked that the rooms are all equipped as ICUs, so there's no step-down. When you come out of your surgery you go to the room you will be at for the duration of your stay. The rooms are equipped with huge flat panel televisions. I was told during the open house we went to, the surgeons could record your surgery and go over it with you in your room after the surgery. But....it was not meant to be. Turned out my insurance company didn't have a contract with Baylor so I was out of luck.

Things turned out great, though. Presby Dallas has a great staff and it has a small hotel on the top floor where my family stayed during the week of my surgery.

http://www.baylorhealth.com/locations/planohearthospital/default.htm

 

[CHDDoug]

MaryC-
Thanks for the feedback about the institutions, Baylor would certainly be closer for us, but of course, we need to check on what our BC/BS PPO insurance has set up with Baylor, if anything at all?!
Sometimes, there is someting to be said about fine tuned operations, new facilities tend to experience operation issues when they haven't ironed out all the kinks.. It is a beautiful property though!!!

Boomersooner-
Look like you will be living in luxury for the week!!! Champagne wishes and Caviar dreams??? Hopefully!!!
Heather Ann

 

[boomersooner]

Our local surgeon at Vanderbilt here in Nashville, has performed 77 of the Ross surgeries

I read a study by Dr. William Ryan that the learning curve for the Ross procedure is 38 surgeries. Not sure what that means but I thought I would just throw that out there. I have also been told by many people and doctors that since the RP is hard to do that you should pick someone who has done alot of them!

 

[boomersooner]

Howdy everyone,

Well they moved my surgery up one day to Jan 8th. I check in a 9:00am for blood work and all that jazz. I guess the surgery will be around noonish. Hopefully they will not change the time again!

 

[Phyllis]

I changed it on the calendar for you- one day sooner to go under the knife is one day closer to a complete and uneventful recovery- best wishes!

 

[boomersooner]

Well my surgery is right around the bend. The nerves are really starting to kick in and all the questions and thoughts about things that could go wrong are running through my mind. WHHOOAA! I am looking forward to waking up in the ICU and knowing that I made it thru surgery. I know at my young age this is at least the first of two or three OHS that I will have to endure so I figure I better get used to it . Anyway I will have my wife post my condition as soon as she can. I have to be at the hospital at 9am on the 8th but the surgery is actually scheduled for noon. I think it is about a 4 or 5 hour procedure.

 

[Susan BAV]

Someone, perhaps Phyllis (or Mary), will probably start a new thread for your surgery date--is it on the calendar?

But I'll wish you the best here on this thread for now. Take care and we'll look forward to a really good outcome update from your wife post-op.

 

[lieb2101]

Same here! I wish you the best!

On a positive note, when I last visited my surgeon, he was saying how much better off the surgery will go when working on a younger patient (I'm 29). He said "I'm used to working on frail 70 year olds... I could hit you with a 2x4 and you'd come out just fine!" Of course he was only joking... I hope

We'll have to swap home brews once we're both out and off the meds... You'll be in my thoughts for sure.

-Brian

 

[boomersooner]

Thanks everyone. Ahhh yes some home brews sounds great Brian. I am just finishing another batch before my surgery. I wanted to have something to drink while sitting at home for so long . When is your surgery scheduled for?

 

[chilihead]

Dr. Ryan will take good care of you. If you're scheduled for noon, he's probably doing another one that morning so he should be warmed up by the time you roll in. He did my Ross and 3 other guys at my place of work and we all are doing well. Best of luck and we'll be saying a prayer for you on the day of the surgery.

Be sure and have him sign your pillow!