Cathleen's Profile

( 08/11/23 Edit: First time back on here in at least two years! I'll try to get on here more often to see how everyone is doing! I'm still doing GREAT <3 ) Hi there! I'm a nurse, an author of a fitness and recipe book, a fitness trainer, a Realtor, a professional member of SAG-AFTRA....and I've had my aortic valve replaced four times since 1991. I'm happy to answer any questions regarding surgery or recovery. 😊❤. 1971 - Born with a congenital bicuspid aortic valve. 1991 - Age 19: 1st OHS during college, AVR with a donor cadaver valve. Dr Alfredo Trento at Cedars Sinai, Los Angeles :) 1994 - Age 22: Endocarditis and 8 weeks of 24 hour Hickman line IV antibiotic therapy followed by 2nd OHS, Ross Procedure replaced my previous donor aortic valve with my own pulmonary valve and I was given a donor pulmonary valve. Dr Alfredo Trento at Cedars Sinai, Los Angeles :) 2005 - Age 33: After both my parents and my brother and sister died between 2001-2005 I discovered I had developed an aortic aneurysm from the stress on my heart (it happens 😐) of 6cm that sent me into an emergency 3rd OHS to have the ascending aorta through the arch replaced with a dacron graft (Bentall procedure) and another aortic valve replacement (bovine tissue). Dr Alfredo Trento at Cedars Sinai, Los Angeles :) 2015 - Age 44: Stenosis of the bovine tissue valve (as expected after 10 years) and this time I qualified for TAVR (yay!) due to the previous 3 open heart surgeries. A new bovine tissue valve was placed inside the old one. Dr Raj Makkar at Cedars Sinai, Los Angeles :) He's a TAVR expert! 2022 - Cardiac Ablation for AFib with Dr Michael Shehata at Cedars Sinai, Los Angeles :) Doing great!! ❤️ 😀 Happy Heart ❤