wskellenger's Journal: Heart 3.0

I'm 29 years old, and it has been three weeks since my third open heart surgery. This surgery was to correct a dialated aortic root. As the aortic root was continually enlarging over the past couple of years, it pulled the aortic valve apart, causing significant leakage.

The surgery was performed at the University of Michigan Medical Center by Dr. Edward Bove. Dr. Bove also performed my last two operations.

On October 11 of this year, the aortic root was to be replaced with Dacron fabric tube that does not stretch, and at the same time the surgeon hoped that he could save the existing tissue valve. He thought that there was a potential to remodel the valve opening with the Dacron tube, decreasing the leakage.

If this remodeling was not possible, the surgeon's second choice would be a matrix valve (pig tissue) as they have a relatively long lifetime (10-15 years) and generally are not rejected by the body. In addition, this procedure would not require that I take any anticoagulants like Coumadin.

The third option would be a mechanical valve, which does have one advantage in that it would last for my entire life. The disadvantage is that it does require the anticoagulation drugs, which would significantly limit my activity level outdoors. Any small cut, as I understand it, causes fairly signficant bleeding.

The operation took seven hours. After re-assembling the heart with the Dacron tube root replacement, Dr. Bove found that the existing valve was leaking significantly, and he decided to remove the new Dacron tube and replace the valve completely. Upon reassembly and re-starting the heart, there was no leakage and he was very happy with the results.

This entire operation was, of course, instantaneous to me. I spent a total of three days in the ICU, one day in moderate care, and another four days on the normal floor recovering. I was discharged on October 18th and have been home since then.

I'm planning to return to work on November the 21st, which would be consistent with the surgeon's recommendation to return to work six weeks post-op. So far I'm feeling very good, slowly reducing my intake of pain meds.

Here is the entire history of my heart modifications to date:

Jan 1976 Heart v1.0

• First release

May 1994 Heart v1.1

• Modified original aortic valve

July 1995 Heart v2.0

• Aortic valve scrapped, replaced with existing pulmonary valve
• Pulmonic valve replaced with used part

Oct 2005 Heart v3.0

• Stretched Aortic root now replaced with Dacron (capitalized?) non-stretching mesh fabric tube
• Heart v2.0 aortic valve removed and replaced with specially treated porcine tissue valve. Minimal chance of rejection, yet highly durable tissue with valve life expectancy of 10-15 years.