Hi, my name is Mark Goerge. I am 36 years old and have had 2
heart surgeries.
Shortly after I was born I ended up in the hospital with
pneumonia and it was there that the doctors found out I had an
aorta that was 90% (or more) blocked and a bicuspid aortic valve
(which they thought I might grow out of). I went to Ann Arbor to
the University of Michigan Hospital and they said they would
operate on my blocked aorta when I was 8 or 9. Sometime later my
parents started taking me to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and
they said I would have been dead by that age and they would do
the surgery when it was necessary.
On 15 January 1965 I had my first cardiac catherization and
the doctors said they would do the operation on Friday the 19th
(which happened to be my 3rd birthday). It was performed by a
Dr. Green.
I continued to see the pediatric cardiologist until I was 17
after that I saw a regular cardiologist on a basis dictated by
whether or not I had insurance.
In the summer of 1999 I started having a hard time breathing
and I went to the cardiologist I had been seeing for the past 18
months or so and he did my 3rd catherization (the 2nd was in
1976). With the results of the catherization and the fact that I
was having a hard time breathing we decided to have my valve
replaced. Dr. Cohn and I decided to use a mechanical valve for
the surgery, which meant coumadin for the rest of my life.
After loosing my father to heart failure in 1969 at the age
of 42 and his mother in 1957 (I wasn't alive then) to heart
failure at the age of 53 I saw no other option than to have my
valve replaced and hopefully be able to see my children grow up
(my father only saw one of his four children start school).
I prepared for the surgery in a rather nonchalant way. I was
not worried. I had faith in God. My wife and my mother (who saw
me through my first surgery) were worried. My wife tells me that
after the surgery the surgeon(s) told her they had to attempt to
start my heart back up 3 times before it worked. My surgeons, Dr
Anthony Fabaz and Dr Anthony Holden did a fantastic job
replacing my aortic valve and part of the aorta itself. The
surgery was performed at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, MI.
My recovery in the hospital was fairly quick, the surgery was
performed on 16 December 1999 and I went home on the 20th. The
first night home was difficult. I had much pain in my chest and
considered going back to the emergency room. But after a couple
days I seemed to do ok with the help of pain killers. Then on
the 30th of December my chest pains would not subside with pain
killers. After 4 to 5 hours I called the hospital and Dr Fabaz
called back and said get to emergency as soon as possible but
being bull headed I had my wife drive me in instead of going by
ambulance. I spent 4 more days in the hospital with fluid
(water) around the heart. After I got out I still could not do
much but I wanted to go back to work after 5 weeks. The people
at work and my cardiologist would not let me. After seven weeks
I went back.
I feel very good now. I can do most of the things I could do
before the surgery and feel much better.
I had someone email me about this site and I think it is
great. I wish I would have known about it before my surgery.
Mark Joseph Goerge
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