Tom Meyers

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Hi Friends and Family,


Thanks for checking in to see how I’m doing. As most of you know I was surprised as anyone else about my current health scare. It came as a major shock in mid-December when I had a routine first exam with my new PCP in Toledo (after spending a couple of months chillin’ with my girlfriend Terri and helping my 93-year of mom during Covid season).  As almost an afterthought, before leaving my new doc’s office, I casually mentioned that around my age of 64, my father had had a heart attack followed by quadruple bypass surgery. So should I consider getting some baseline heart- related info to have in my files for future reference as the years pass by. 


With my updated excellent bloodwork, regular exercise, controlled BP and lack of symptoms she thought further testing was unnecessary, but was willing to order a couple of non-invasive procedures to gather more info. A week later, I had a stress test and echocardiogram. Turns out on the stress test I passed with flying  colors (“like a 35 yr old” I was told) but to my great surprise I was then informed that the echocardiogram (confirmed with CT scan shortly afterward) revealed another picture.....a significantly enlarged thoracic aortic aneurysm and leaking valves that could be life threatening over time if I did nothing and if it still continued to grow in size. It would also limit my activities in the meantime. 


Yikes!!! The cardiologist said “No way to shrink it, but it IS fixable....”albeit through complicated, but very successful, open heart surgery. Fast forward 3 months and a visit to the world renown Cleveland Clinic (esp. for heart ❤ issues) and a diagnosis from their experts. Unfortunately, the new imaging revealed increased aortic diameter growth and worsening heart-valve problems. I was told, it would only get worse with time, with no intervention, and I was strongly advised to have the surgery “sooner than later”. 


So after a maddeningly short time to wrap my head around the implications and options (along with more doctor input who concurred) it became obvious for me to take care of this now. The fortunate part is that I was able to be proactive with my health and discover this “invisible” problem” AND I was within 2 hours of the #1 skilled surgical hospital to resolve it. So....here I am moving forward to make things right again and restore my health with open heart surgery on Monday, May 3 at the Cleveland Clinic with one of the top guy in the country as my surgeon (Dr. Lars Svensson). 


I certainly could not do it without all of the wonderful heartfelt love and support from all of YOU!!! Thanks so much for your encouragement and positive vibes you’re sending my way during this difficult and scary process. I feel blessed to have you all on board with me during this challenging journey. Thanks so much for your support! All you need is love...with a little help from my friends! (and a great surgical team of skilled docs and nurses!)


Love,


Tom  (aka Tommy/T Boy, The 5th Beatle)