Gerald's Profile

Hello, my name is Gerry and I am 65 years young. Several years ago my doctor noticed that I had a heart murmer and eventually referred me to a cardiologist. They performed an echo cardiogram and identified that I had a bicuspid aortic valve. This is an inherited form of heart disease in which two of the leaflets of the aortic valve fuse during development in the womb resulting in a two-leaflet valve (bicuspid valve) instead of the normal three-leaflet valve (tricuspid). At that time he estimated that I would require surgery in approximately 5 years. It has now been about 12 years and my valve condition in the past 6 months has gone from low moderate with no symptons to critical 0.6 cm2 with no real symptons. A couple of weeks ago I first met Dr Perchinsky, my cardiothoracic surgeon. In Canada, well at least where I live, cardiologists and surgeons seem to strongly recommend mechanical valves. one might even say they push them. I had done months of research and it had always appeared to me that my/our lifestyle was more conducive to a bovine bioprosthetic valve and not a life on warfarin. We are quite active people, walk, jog, hike and camp in the back country. We also travel a lot to remote locations in Mexico, Cuba and other third world, so to speak countries. We enjoy all inclusive restaurants and eating and drinking. I know this will mean that I will have to look forward to another AVR in 10 to 20 years but I prefer that over living on warfarin. Part of my decision is also because I am quite young, active and healthy for my age, last year we were doing 10K runs, I have low blood pressure, good cholesterol, I am not on any medications and have no blocked arteries. Several articles supported my decision as well as life changing and fatal experiences on warfarin by friends. My own family doctor as well as my internal medicine specialist also agree with my decision under my life circumstances. I usually don't write or share as much of myself but I chose to do so because many other peoples life stories have also assisted me in regards to my valve issue. I can only hope that my story is helpful to others. Gerry