Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
To update those who are not aware of Bob's heart history I will give you some background. At age 35 he had his aortic valve replaced due to aortic stenosis. We were living in the Boston area at the time. About 18 years later, at age 55 his heart valve was recalled. You read it right, recalled!! This recall actually saved his life as they found an aneurysm just outside his recalled aortic valve. The Doctors at Stanford replaced his valve, about 6 inches of his aorta and his aortic arch with dacron. This was a very long and involved surgery. But all went well. Last fall he began to have shortness of breath. He was referred up to UC Davis Medical Center. His diagnosis then was a severely regurgitating mitral valve. UC Davis had a surgeon who thought he could repair the valve and improve his lifestyle. The Dr. was not terribly successful and Bob continued to have shortness of breath. This year it became so bad the Dr. referred him back to Stanford. We have spent the last 6 weeks going back and forth to Stanford (150 miles round trip) meeting with doctors, having endless tests and finally the surgeon, Dr. Woo has determined to go forth with the surgery. Since it is the third time going in through his chest, it is a very high risk surgery. Bob has chosen to go ahead despite the risk. They have also found one blocked artery on the backside of the heart. They will repair it with a stent on Monday, the day before the big surgery. Tuesday, October 9 is when the mitral valve will be replaced as well as the pulmonary valve repaired.
I will try to update this site at least once a day. I hope this will a good tool to keep everyone who is interested informed with minimal impact on me. Thanking everyone in advance for the good thoughts and prayers.
