Bailey's Profile

Hello! I'm Bailey (He/Him) and I had mitral valve repair surgery on April 20th, 2021. I was diagnosed with severe mitral valve prolapse (MVP) in early February. I woke up one morning with a sudden onset of rapid and irregular heartbeat (later diagnosed as atrial fibrillation / afib). I went in for a doctor's appointment when the afib didn't go away after more than a week, and I was starting to experience a little bit of shortness of breath. They did an EKG and sent me straight to the ER where they gave me diltiazem to bring my heart rate down. I had an echocardiogram a few days later and was called in to see the doctor in person (instead of the scheduled video appointment). I figured it was big news, and it was. I needed heart surgery. WTF! I'm 47 and otherwise totally healthy. I later found out that there's a family history of MVP. So, fast forward a couple of months...the surgical team at Kaiser in Santa Clara, CA was great. They were able to do a port access mitral valve repair. They also did some type of MAZE / ablation, not sure if it was a mini-maze or what, along with ligation of the atrial appendage. It was pretty neat to see before and after pics of the inside of my heart. The valve was perfectly closed with an annuloplasty ring around it. I had a 4 day hospital stay, and everyone at Kaiser Santa Clara-Homestead was awesome! This is a bit of my story...