Background

Here's a little background on my heart condition. My pediatrician detected a heart murmur when I was very little. Through testing,  the doctors discovered I was born with a congenital defect called Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease (BAVD). Most people are born with a tricuspid (3 leaflet) aortic valve but I, along with only about 1% of the population, was born with a bicuspid (2 leaflet) valve.  As you can see in the picture below, this is the valve that separates your aorta from the rest of your heart. This is where oxygen rich blood is carried out of your heart and brought to the rest of your body.

* Picture from University of Rochester Medical Center website

The same genetic abnormality that caused my valve to form differently also affects the connective tissue in my aorta causing it to weaken and stretch out under the pressure of normal blood flow (this is called an aneurysm). If my aorta stretches and weakens too much it could spring a leak kind of like a hose. However, a leaking aorta only leaves me with a few hours to live.

For most people with BAVD the valve stiffens and starts to leak over time, eventually needing to be replaced. This usually happens to people in their 60s-70s. Sometimes, the weakened aortic root and ascending aorta have to be replaced with the valve. Most people have no symptoms at all until the valve is stiff and badly leaking. When that happens, people tend to feel shortness of breath doing normal everyday things. If the valve functions normally, there are no symptoms until the leaky hose phase. Obviously this is bad news bears because at that point most people would not make it to the hospital and into surgery in enough time to fix the problem.

 Luckily for me, my murmur was taken seriously when I was little. My issue was detected early on and I have been monitored my entire life. I have no outward symptoms so I would not know that anything is wrong if it wasn't for being monitored twice a year. It was at one of these appointments where it was discovered that my aorta had no patience with waiting until my 60s. It had stretched to the point where it is at risk of springing a leak.  So, into surgery I go on July 29^th.

The surgeon will open my chest by separating my sternum (full sternotomy),  and put me on a heart and lung machine to circulate my blood while they perform a Bentall Procedure on my heart. This includes replacing my aortic root, aortic valve, and ascending aorta. They will then wire my stern back together and close me up. My aorta will be replaced with Dacron tubing (a material kind of like Gortex) and my valve will be replaced with a bovine (cow) tissue valve. After about 6 months, the inner lining of my aorta will grow to completely coat the inner lining of the Dacron tubing. Below is a picture of what my heart looks like now with the aneurysm (stretched out part) and what it will look like after it is replaced with the graft.  

* Picture from heartvalvesurgery.com