Troy Reimer

Name: Troy Reimer

Current Age: 37

Occupation: Attorney - family law

Your Family: Wife - Lisa

Sons - Tristan (4)

Brendan (almost 2)

When you found out about your condition: November 2000, surgery in March 2001

What symptoms you had: lethargy, shortness of breath, sleepiness, though no symptoms were noticeable until after I was diagnosed. I'm very good (bad) at ignoring such things, until my wife notices and makes me see a doctor, which is exactly what happened. She noticed I was more tired than usual and sent me to my primary-care physician, whom I had not seen for 8 years. He noticed a slight heart murmur and sent me for an echo. The echo revealed aortic stenosis and a bicuspid valve. The valve was functioning at about .57 cm.

How you prepared for surgery: Much, much research, on this site and elsewhere; interviewed surgeons in Dallas, Houston and Cleveland; sought opinions from doctors in the family, Mom and Dad, Lisa, etc. regarding valve type, surgeon and location. As many know, there are just too many decisions to make when you have the opportunity to make them. I had about 4 months between diagnosis and surgery. Sometimes I think it would've been less stressful if I had had about a week to think about it. I finally chose a bovine pericardial valve to allow more freedom to raise my boys as actively as possible. I also chose Dr. Lytle at the Cleveland Clinic to perform the surgery since it was felt he would be the most capable to decide whether to replace a portion of my ascending aorta during surgery.

What type of surgery you had: Aortic valve replaced together with 6 inches of ascending aorta.

Medications before surgery: None.

Medications after surgery: Currently taking 81 mg aspirin and 12.5 mg Toprol XL daily. I'm trying to keep the pressure on the valve to a minimum in hopes it will last longer.

Type of valve you have: Bovine pericardial.

Type of valve you had: Bicuspid stenotic piece of junk I was born with (although it did do fine for 36 years).

Hospital where your surgery was done: Cleveland Clinic Foundation (Dr. Bruce Lytle, who I highly recommend).

Your experience there: Overall it was excellent. The actual surgery was overly stressful for Lisa, her parents and mine, who were all present. I went in to surgery as planned on Monday morning at about 7:00. They told me I'd be finished about 1-2:00. I woke up in the recovery room and asked what time it was. When they told me it was 10:00 (p.m.), I knew something had gone wrong. It seems after having me on the operating table until 4:00, they closed me back up. I was having a lot of drainage and they couldn't determine the source, so they finally opened me up again. There was a "bleeder," a small blood vessel that ruptured during the initial surgery that they had not noticed when they closed me up. It was located on the inside of my chest wall and was not obvious. Luckily, they found it and fixed it, but it took them a couple more hours in the O/R. Recovery and hospitalization care was excellent, as well as the beginnings of rehab. I was released after 5 days in the hospital and stayed in Cleveland for another week before returning to Dallas by air without incident.

Your first few days home: Everything was in slow motion, which was fine with me. I slept in the recliner, walked around the house and in the back yard, then started the treadmill. I soon became a walking fanatic.

Your recovery since then: 5 weeks post-op I returned to work because of the pressure I was receiving from the office. In my opinion, it was too early to return so don't let anyone other than your doctor tell you when you're ready, especially someone who has not been through such a major physical ordeal. 1 week after returning to work, I was sent to the emergency room with atrial flutter - my heart rate was elevated to 145 bpm. This situation is typically caused when scar tissue from surgery redirects the electrical currents around the heart's exterior. Sometimes they get caught in a loop that just goes faster and faster. The E/R cardiologist put me under for a minute and electrically cardioverted me back to normal sinus rhythm. I was sent home the next day, only to have the atrial flutter return the following morning. I spent the following week in the hospital getting pumped full of Amniodarone and was electrically cardioverted again immediately prior to being released. I stayed on the Amniodarone for 6 months to make sure the flutter was under control. Since then, I've had no major problems, other than slight incision pain, some spells of light-headedness, and bouts with pump-head.

My recovery routine consisted of the typical treadmill walking (started before leaving the hospital), then added biking (at 12 weeks post-op), and daily games of racquetball (at 6 months post-op). I also water-skied and played golf at 4 months post-op without incident, other than significantly reduced endurance (I wish I could blame my sorry golf game on surgery, but my swing has unfortunately not gotten any better). The only regular activity I have foregone completely since surgery is hunting, which I intend to pick back up this fall. At one year post-op, I felt almost completely back to normal.

How you found out about this site: I just happened onto it while searching for aortic valve replacement, probably through the greatness that is Google, my most favorite of search engines.

Any other comments you can share: Above all, stay positive throughout all the curves life throws at you. God is good and He created you for a reason. Talk to Him and tell Him how you feel. He's always there to listen and cares greatly for you. He knows what's up when no one else does, even the doctors.

A great big Texas "Thank You" to Hank for providing this common ground to bring together each of us who have been or are being exposed to similar circumstances. You should be commended, Hank.