Katherine's Profile

My story is a little bit complicated. This will be my 4th Open Heart Surgery if that's how they choose to proceed once I am in the O.R. My surgery date is not yet scheduled. They are considering doing a less invasive procedure that has never been done in the United States. Studies are out of India and China. So, I will not know going into surgery if I am having a catheter procedure to remove pannus obstruction from my mechanical aortic valve (which is 20 years old- my bicuspid aortic valve was replaced with a St Jude Valve in 2005) or a full open heart mechanical aortic valve Re-do surgery (my 4th Open heart). I also have a homograft pulmonary valve 1997), An ASD repair 1974, and a three-lead pacemaker since 2005. I have also experienced an N-Stemi and 2 strokes in the past year and a half. I seem to be a complicated case that is always pushing cardiologists a little beyond their comfort zones. I would love to connect with anyone that has had multiple surgeries and a mechanical valve re-do.