Winston Hawkins Winston's Mended Heart

This Spring, Winston noticed he was not feeling well. He was tired all the time and at first thought it was simply because he was getting old. Seemed logical.  Fortunately, he met with his regular doctor and asked for a cardiac referral just to make sure his heart was OK, since his father and grandfather both died young of heart related issues. The cardiologist confirmed that Winston has a bicuspid aortic valve (instead of Tricuspid) which is leaking, his heart is enlarged and he recently damaged his mitral valve (mitral prolapse) and this is also leaking.  This combination is not allowing enough oxygenated blood to get to his extremities, after his hike on the Appalachian trail a couple of months ago, Winston said it "almost killed him".Winston's surgeon is recommending aortic valve replacement and mitral valve repair via open heart surgery. 
Winston is scheduled for surgery Aug 1 in Greenville at the East Carolina heart institute.  We will be there for at least 5 days.  My mother will be home with the boys while we are in Greenville. Once we return, Winston will begin the process of healing and gaining his strength back. Everyone is different so we don't know how long it will be before he is 100%,  but it will be at least 4 weeks before he will be allowed to drive himself and 6-8 weeks before he can lift anything. We have had so many wonderful offers for help and many questions about what is happening. We love you and thank you for the out reach to our family.  We hope this site will allow our friends and family to keep tabs on his progress.  I will be excited to have my awesome  Winny back.