Thanks for stopping by. This blog is about Sam and the heart condition that he was diagnosed with nearly 6 years ago. Sam had insisted on keeping this a private family matter but thought now would be a good time to kick things off and be able to keep our extended family and friends informed about what will be going on in the near future.....hence the cute header "from the heart".
So as you may or may not know... Sam was diagnosed with a heart condition back in the summer of 2006. His heart was enlarged and had two leaking valves (mitral and aortic). The first doctor he saw that summer wanted him to have open heart surgery right away....since that didn't sit well with any of us and especially since Sam felt fine we looked for a 2nd opinion. We met with Dr. William O'Neill at Beaumont and after some tests he felt we should hold off on surgery and try a combination of blood pressure medications to help delay. Dr. O'Neill left for Florida shortly after our initial visit and we started to see the valve specialist in the practice Dr. George Hanzel. He is amazing! We were able to go a few years with some check-ups and tests to monitor the heart.
We got to the point two years ago when Dr. Hanzel suggested we see a surgeon and that surgery may be around the corner. We met with a Beaumont surgeon - Dr. Francis Shannon in 2009. He was a very educated surgeon but not the one for us. We decided to get a second opinion at the University of Michigan (which was difficult for Sam since he is a Spartan fan) where we met with Dr. Michael Deeb. From the moment we walked into the doors of the U - there was a calming feeling...everyone is so nice and helpful. Sam loved Dr. Deeb on our first appointment (and he is half Lebanese too)! After a TON of testing that Fall, Dr. Deeb decided now wasn't the time for surgery and that he wanted to monitor Sam carefully and have a UofM cardiologist see him regularly - Dr. David Bach.
We have been seeing Dr. Bach now for the past two years every 6 months for echo-cardiograms and check-ups. To our surprise during our last visit with Dr. Bach (June 2011) he said it was "go time" with the surgery! So needless to say things have been a whirlwind the past 2 months.. we have been in Ann Arbor every 2 weeks for either a test or an appointment. We met with Dr. Deeb a couple weeks ago and he is going to operate on Sam's aortic valve. He hopes to repair it and give him 10 years on a repair vs a replacement with a pigs valve. He won't know until he gets into the operating room and looks first hand. In addition to Sam's aortic valve being operated on - he is referring us to his partner Dr. Steven Bolling who will be performing the mitral valve surgery on Sam. Due to the complexity of Sam's valve conditions he will be getting the two best surgeons that the region has to offer - all in one surgery!
Stay tuned for the Dr. Bolling update!
We appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers.
