Aortic Valve Referrals

In preparation for an allogeneic bone marrow transplant, I have an echocardiogram done to make sure my heart is cleared and can handle the stress of the transplant.

Uh oh! It seems that now my aortic valve in my heart needs to be replaced. I'm not sure why it chose now because we've been watching it for about five years now. Five years ago, I was told it would probably fail within 1-2 years, but it's been doing well and hanging in there. However, I knew if it got done to opening less than about 1", it would be time for surgery.

And that time is NOW. Crud! If we have to delay the second bone marrow transplant by more than four months, I'm predicting that the Hodgkins will be back, but there's no way my valve can continue. In fact, I'm being classified as being in heart failure until that valve is replaced.

Dr. Walker refers me to some colleagues of his at the University of Utah hospital and wants them to evaluate me to see if I'm a good candidate for an alternative procedure where the valve wouldn't need to be replaced through open heart surgery.

The idea of needing open heart surgery, of people inside my heart, terrifies me. After everything I've been through medically, you would think it would be just another checkmark on a list, but I'm very nervous about this process. So being able to repair my heart without opening my heart sounds very intriguing to me. (Although I still don't like the idea of someone messing around with my heart. It's more critical than lymph nodes, or a spleen, or an arm, or a leg, or even reproductive organs--which I've had operated on in the past.)

Dr. Wendy hears about the valve and calls me personally to tell me that she'd like me to consult with a friend of hers at St. Mark's Hospital. She then explains that open heart surgery is the preferred way to replace the aortic valve, and she's worried that UofU is just interested in the research aspects of performing the replacement in alternative methods for the numbers and data that they can gather.

I trust her and her professional opinion, so I call to make an appointment with Dr. Karwande at St. Mark's Hospital, in addition to the appointment I already have with Dr. Tandar at U of U Hospital.