David Crane

In Spring of 2015 I walked to the ER one bright Sunday morning with a case of what experts call "holiday heart"  -- "an acute cardiac rhythm and/or conduction disturbance associated with heavy ethanol consumption in a person without other clinical evidence of heart disease." I had hosted a BBQ the day before. Not quite reassured by the time of my release, my hypochondriac self decided to take an ambulance back to the ER a couple of days later, where the doctor on duty decided to cover all the bases and ordered a CT scan. There began the journey to now. Side note: NEVER walk somewhere when you think your are experiencing a heart disturbance. Take an aspirin and call an ambulance.


Long story short: it turns out I have a congenital valve defect (who knew?) that, in some cases, presents complications, e.g. aortic root aneurysm, left ventricular hypertrophy, and probably some other other conditions whose names are also derived from Ancient Greek. (If you are one of my students, take Greek!)  My conditions are now at the point where my doctors have decided surgical intervention is required, either to spare the valve in a procedure aptly named the "David Procedure" or to replace the valve if it cannot be spared. I've put a link to a description of the procedure on this website, for the morbidly curious. Caveat lector.


All that's left is for me to say that I am in very good hands and that this surgery is fairly routine in this day and age, which is amazing. The recovery process will be slow but comfortable, since I will have people waiting on me hand and foot for several weeks. Thank you, family! And thank you, friends, for taking the time to read my story and wish me well. Ex animo, David