Anna's Profile

I was born with aortic valve regurgitation. Through the years of echos and tests, I have been told all four possibilities that I have one, or two or three or four leaflets of my aortic valve. But no doctors have told me in my early years that I may need a surgery or I may develop aortic aneurysm one day. So I put my heart condition on back burner for quite a few years. Last year, I decided to have a thorough check up and get a good baseline of my health since I have reached the milestone of 50. I went to see a new cardiologist who suggested me to take a coronary calcification score scan since my dad has the history of cardiovascular issues. So I took the test shortly after we came back from Thanksgiving vacation. The test score came back very good which is zero, however the radiologist found that I have aortic aneurysm measured at 5.3cm. My cardiologist called me immediately concerned about the anuerym size for a petite woman like me. She ordered another CTA with contrast. By the end of December I had another CTA and it came back unfortunately confirmed the size of 5.3. I switched gears to research mode for the next couple of months to get myself up to speed from the surgery to valves to doctor and travel arrangements. I was very happy to find this website and get to know and learn from many fellow heart warriors here. I was impressed with Dr Takayama’s profile and reviews and contacted him via this website, I got responses from Adam and Dr Takayama on the same day I submitted the inquiry! His team contacted me the next day and arranged me to send all my results for review and scheduled to have surgery on 03/21/24.