Confusion, And The Holiday Food

There's so much information to digest and remember. You read all you can...or at least I read all I can...but then it's like information overload. Stuff starts falling off the shelves in my mind. I have to go back and re-read and try to organize my thoughts once again. Where do I stand? What do the numbers mean?

I have a friend who I met through our shared interest in toy train collecting. He's an anesthesiologist. He found out about my heart condition and kindly wrote to me. Turns out he was in training to be a cardiothoracic surgeon before changing career paths. He wanted to know about my condition and offered advice.

So I told him about the BAV diagnosis and the aortic aneurysm or dilation (some people like my GP don't seem to be up on the current literature that lists anything over 4 cm as "aneurysmal.) I also explained that I would not agree to surgery unless the battle plan also addressed the aneurysm. He wrote back saying that my surgeon might not want to repair the aorta because the dilation was probably due to stenosis of the AV.

Of course, my friend has probably not read the current literature on BAV disease and the studies that indicate that aortic dilation is separate from BAV stenosis, happens due to causes other than BAV stenosis, and will progress in a significant number of patients even after BVAVR.

Through all of this I'm trying to keep my eye on the ball because I was to have a clear head when I meet my surgeon on January 6. This is what I have to keep front and center:

In patients with bicuspid valves undergoing AVR because of severe AS or AR (see Sections 3.1.7 and 3.2.3.8), repair of the aortic root or replacement of the ascending aorta is indicated if the diameter of the aortic root or ascending aorta is greater than 4.5 cm.* (Level of Evidence: C)

This is from the 2008 Focused Update Incorporated Into the ACC/AHA 2006 Guidelines for the Management of Patients With Valvular Heart Disease, the very lastest practice guidelines. My ascending aorta is a 4.3 cm as of the lats measurement in November. If the surgeon "pulls the trigger" when I see him on January 6, the plan has to include tackling the aortic aneurysm because I'm only 2/10ths of a CM under the trip point in the guidelines. If not, then would not agree to surgery because of the risk that I would have to undergo a second OHS in a few years. So we'll see next Tuesday after I get the CT scan and meet with Joe Bavaria.

In the meantime, I'm walking four miles a day usually, and trying desperately not to consume too much of this tasty food that is all to readily available around the holidays. I made a meal for seven on Christmas day and the leftovers are delicious. Yesterday Dan made a turkey pie and we had some of it for dinner. It is really wonderful. I made holiday cookies last week, Viennese Crescents, and they're yummy too. How do you not put on a few pounds at this time of the year with all of this good food around?