Peter's Profile

When my younger daughter was 4 years old, her primary doctor heard a faint clicking sound in her heart at a well-child visit. She got an echo and we found out that she had a bicuspid aortic valve and several other heart defects. She is now 17 and has always been asymptomatic and no surgery has been warranted. About 7 years ago, my daughter's cardiologist suggested that I get screened for a bicuspid valve, given that it is a congenital defect. When I got scanned, they found a bicuspid aortic valve, an aortic root aneurysm, an ascending aortic aneurysm, and left iliac artery aneurysm. I was asymptomatic, but this year the aortic root aneurysm diameter reached the point where surgery was recommended -- and they would also do the valve at the same time. I had open heart surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital on April 29, 2019. Besides trying to get my head around open heart surgery, I wrestled quite a bit with the choice between a mechanical and a tissue valve if the surgeon could not repair my aortic valve. I am 56 and decided to go with a tissue valve as a contingency plan, hoping for more common TAVR procedures when it needed replacement. Ultimately the surgeon was able to successfully repair my valve, so no replacement at this time!