Darrin's Profile

I was diagnosed with a significant mitral reguritation at a normal yearly exam in 2019 and was referred to a cardiologist for an echocardiogram. I have had a heart murmur for most of my life but it had suddenly gotten worse. The test indicated that there was a severe leakage and it was confirmed to indicate surgery after a subsequent Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and I was referred to a surgeon (Dr Sanjay Tripathi). Dr Tripathi recommended that I undergo a Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Repair Surgery with the assistance of a surgical robot. He stated that a typical patient like myself would have a greater than 95% chance of a successful repair. At that point the Covid epidemic shut down elective(?) procedures like mine and I had to wait for several months for the procedure. Most of my pre-op appointments were done via telemedicine (zoom). Finally after two covid test and a heart cath procedure to check out my arteries I had the surgery on July 9th at Swedish Medical Center in Denver. The surgery lasted about 5 hours and is thus far a complete success. I was in the hospital for three days and haven't taken any pain medicine since 5 days after the surgery. It has just been a couple of weeks since the operation but I feel really good and I am looking forward to returning to work in a week or two. I have a cardio rehab session class starting in a couple of weeks (COVID situation hopefully remaining stable) and I am already going for walks outside in the morning and evening and I can climb stairs without getting breathless. To me this whole surgery and recovery process has been miraculous and I am amazed by how advanced modern surgery has become.