John W. Forte

In 1963 at the age of 13, I underwent open heart surgery to correct a congenital VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect).  The surgery was performed in Pittsburgh, PA and was very successful considering it was 1963 and heart surgery techniques were not that good.  I continued with my life in a somewhat normal manner.  I finished both a BA and MS at West Virginia University and married in 1975.  Everything went along uneventful until the summer of 1999.  Things just didn't seem right with me.  In late September, I started having trouble sleeping.  The only way that I could get some relief was to sleep in a chair.  This condition went on for about 2 weeks.  I was hospitalized on October 1, 1999 with what my local doctors said was congestive heart failure.  After a week of hospital care my family and I was told that I should probably be evaluation at a large facility for a possible heart and lung transplant.  Needless to say I decided to have some second opinions.  To make a long story short, I was able to get a referral to Charleston Area Medical Center in Charleston, WV.  I met with Dr. Andrew Vaughan.  I believe that Dr. Vaughan knew what was wrong with my by just the reports he received from my other doctors and my records from my first surgery in Pittsburgh.  I was diagnosed with a severe leakage of my aortic valve.  I was scheduled for Cardiac Catheterization about 10 days later.  The catheterization revealed that not only was my aortic valve destroyed, but my ascending aortic root needed replaced and the VSD that I had corrected at the age of 13 was also in need of repair. 

On December 3, 1999, Dr. Jamal Khan at CAMC performed the surgery.  I had a Bentall-DeBono procedure performed.  The aortic valve and aortic root was replaced.  The valve was replaced with a Medtronic-Hall mechanical valve and the root was replaced with a Dacron wrap. I was in the hospital for 7 days, did real good, had a small incident of "V" fib and was placed on medication for that for about 6 weeks.   I also take a lot of medication for blood pressure.  I am presently on Altace, Norvasc, and Lopressor specifically for the blood pressure and of course I will be on Coumadin therapy for life.  I take 2 mg of Coumadin per day and have had a stable INR/PT rate of between 2.5 and 3.5 for the past 6 months or so.  I haven't had much fluctuation in those clotting levels.  I have basically cut out all vitamin K from my diet.

I must say that I had a very hard recovery.  I was fixed physically and wrecked mentally.  It has been 19 months since my surgery and I feel that I'm just getting back to somewhat of a normal life.  I am now getting acclimated to the clicking sound of the mechanical valve. 

I would like to thank Charleston Area Medical Center especially the fine work of my surgeon Dr. Jamal Khan an my cardiologist Dr. Andrew N. Vaughan, without them I would not be here today.

I would like to hear from anyone who would like to talk about their heart related issues.

John V. Forte
jcaforte@charter.net