I have never made a secret of the fact that I was born with a relatively common congenital heart defect known as a Bicuspid Aortic Valve (or BAV), a condition that I’ve known since childhood would result in my having valve replacement surgery someday. Well, “someday” turned out to be 10 days ago at Maimonedes Hospital’s Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Suite. I have been back home since this past Saturday and recovery (knock on wood) seems to be moving along smoothly and quickly.
I just wanted to quickly thank my cardiocare providers, including my cardiologist Dr. Shivani Verma & my cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Benjamin Youdelman, who — along with their cardiology teams — made the entire procedure seem almost dull & monotonous. I also wanted to thank my beautiful wife
@jaime.vaccahoef and my beautiful adoptive brother
@tedmfranx for their constant love & support, along with my generous community at
@loughlinlions for making sure all of my work will be covered until I get back.
While in today’s world valve replacement survey is relatively routine & in fairly short order I’ll be back to 100%, it’s still heart surgery at the end of the day, & I’ve already received so much love, support, & prayers from all walks of life to help me get through it. I didn’t broadcast that I’d be getting this surgery, but everyone who’s managed to find out has been universally caring & generous for which I’m very grateful.
Finally & most of all, I’d like to thank my mom,
@helenhoefner . All the way back to a time where I can’t even remember how young I was, Mom made sure I received the best cardiac care she could find (shout-out to my wonderful pediatric cardiologist Dr. Sandra Brunson). Mom also simultaneously made me believe my BAV was NBD and hammered home to me the importance of getting it screened every year into adulthood, so much so that years later even as I did the thing where you put off doctor visits because you feel fine, I almost never put off my annual cardiology screenings, which is how an asymptomatic heart patient (me) discovered they were entering the danger zone and it was time to fix what ailed them.
