So.... I am 72 and very happy to be here. But I am sort of like an old car. Parts are wearing out. Things hurt, things I never even thought about hurting. My hands hurt. Not from an injury, but just because. It is a lack of word choice to say "they just hurt."
Things like that make me realize how much I love my hands. I use them endlessly, and having a certain middle finger afflicted is not a good thing. I want it to STOP. Creams, salves, pills, and Grandmother Mary's remedies don't seem to make them better. Oh well. At some point, I simply end the complaints and focus on some other body part that needs attention. There are many.
The newest one is my heart. I'm very attached to my heart. It seems to be working very hard. Too hard. One of the valves has decided to become problematic.
Severe aortic valve stenosis with a peak and mean gradients of 66/39 mmHg respectively.
Now I don't really know what that means in "Doctor" but I do know what it means in "Sally": a new one needs to be installed.
As many medical procedures these days, the path to the end is convoluted:
Echo Cardiogram :January 2026
Trip to the Cardiologist: February 2026
One month of wearing a monitor that freaks out TSA
Pulmonary Function Test: February 2026
Ultrasound to examine the Carotid arteries : March 20, 2026
Cathlab procedure to determine if there are any blockages in the heart's arteries.
ECG: April 7, 2026
New Valve to be placed via Femoral Arteries on May 15, 2026.
What a ride. They enclose a new valve in a covering, put it up your femoral artery and place it inside the hinky aortic valve, expand it, secure it, and send you home in 24 hours. We shall see.
It will be from a cow. I am assuming the cow was a sacred cow. But I guess they last about 10-15 years and are easy to replace.
Cow Valve Replacement Surgery: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)
During a TAVR procedure, the surgeon inserts a pencil-thin tube called a sheath into a femoral artery in the leg. Through that sheath, the surgeon uses image guidance to send a balloon catheter through the artery to the aortic valve. The balloon is inflated to open the damaged heart valve and then deflated and removed.
Next, the surgeon places the transcatheter heart valve over a deflated balloon on a very thin tube and threads it to the aortic valve. Once positioned in the aortic valve, the balloon is inflated, expanding the new valve within the diseased one.
Your surgeon removes your damaged heart valve and implants the bioprosthetic cow valve in its place. The implanted valve immediately starts opening and closing, allowing blood to leave the heart and preventing it from leaking back in. The balloon is then deflated and the delivery system is removed. The new heart valve begins to work immediately.
The patient’s heart beats throughout the entire procedure.
Ides of May....... I hope to report afterwards.
