Danny's Posts

Oh Danny, that’s not bad news. Use any other pillow in your house or buy one. I wasn’t given one at UCLA and had to improvise every time I sneezed or coughed or laughed. Still do. Glad you are heading home. You will feel so much better. Continued healing and recovery. God bless you

Since moving to the Sunshine State in 2012 and beginning my healthcare journey with the Veterans Healthcare system in Broward/Miami-Dade counties I’ve experienced nothing but the best possible care anyone could expect. The human costs of my healthcare benefits were costly. In terms of human sacrifice my 4 years of active duty, and many more years as a naval reservist, including 13 months as a PBR Captain in Vietnam from April 68 to May 69 costs me dearly. Lost too many young friends in the primes of their lives, like myself. Grew up too quickly, immediately feeling the guilt and stress when a subordinate died on your watch. So that’s how I earned my stripes and my veterans benefits including the tremendously professional quality of care I’ve been fortunate to personally experience. My heart-valve surgery adventure started 5 years ago while playing outdoor 3 wall racquetball. I had been playing racquetball at Boston College since 1971 after active duty ended. My love for the sport continued to grow for approximately 40 more years. My two sons played tennis on their HS teams and then as part of their college teams at Holy Cross and Boston College. In 2012 when i officially retired from working I moved to Florida seeking a new life. The beautiful weather in Florida offered me endless opportunities to play racquetball, which I took advantage of until the fall of 2017. During an evening match with my usual partners I just collapsed on the court. My legs felt like they were filled with lead. I was hyper ventilating trying to catch my breath, I was sweating profusely and feeling nauseous and very sick. My friends did everything they could think of to relieve my symptoms. I had no chest pains or headache. After about 15 minutes of resting, cool compresses, slow deep breaths all the symptoms stopped and I felt normal again. Took a week off from playing and scheduled a stress test and ekg. The results were inconclusive but did result in a diagnosis of exercise induced asthma. So prescriptions were filled and I was told to use the inhaler before play, during play and perhaps whenever I felt symptoms coming on. Shortly after this diagnosis I was introduced to a newer less aggressive, strenuous sport called pickleball. Fell in love immediately. Started playing indoor only and using my inhaler experienced no debilitating symptoms. One day I was invited to play at an outdoor venue and 3 games later I had collapsed again. After that, stopped playing outdoors and only played indoors. Few symptoms here and there but nothing extreme. Then catastrophe hit the world. Covid shut everything down. All indoor venues were shut down. Parks were closed. Months later parks were opening back up but with restrictions. Had to wear a mask during play and maintain social distancing. It soon became obvious to me that playing or doing anything strenuous outdoors in the Florida heat and sunshine was going to make me sick. I scheduled an appointment with my new veterans primary care doctor and thank God for him he found something on an ekg he conducted that didn’t look normal. Within a month I had tests scheduled for everything related to my heart, lungs and the rest of my respiratory systems. Results came back that nothing of any significance was wrong with my heart, but it was all pulmonary related, totally damaged bronchial system due to exposure to toxins. Another round of inhalers. Some brilliant cardiologists at the Miami VA hospital after reviewing all my test results decided to order an echocardiogram. As they say my friends, the rest is history. I had my aortic valve replaced on October 28/22. I’m home recovering, I feel great, and I have nothing but high hopes for myself. Thank you for taking the time to hear about my story.

Welcome, Danny! May you be at peace and may your surgeons have God's guiding hand over all of you during the entire procedure. From what I've read here, recuperation time varies from patient to patient. For me, my heart is ahead of schedule and I am improving every day. My incisions from the minimally invasive technique, however, are taking longer and I'm trying to just pamper myself and be patient! Proceed in peace and confidence!