BillyG2

I am 34 years old and athletic. I was a collegiate swimmer and have been swimming lifetime bests in my 30s, including 3 lifetime bests in April of 2015 despite looking back and knowing I had aortic regurgitation at the time.

I have been borderline high blood pressure most of my life, at least since college. Knowing about my pre-hypertension and family history with heart issues, I've obsessively eaten cleanly and worked out regularly.

I had a radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial flutter in February 2013. Valves and everything else were allegedly very healthy at the time, but then I started noticing a wide pulse pressure (that got wider and wider) starting around April 2014. This concerned me because my diastolic blood pressure kept getting lower and lower - it was a sudden and significant change from my past, which I recognized since I had been tracking blood pressure regularly for years. The doctors kind of blew off my concern, but it always bothered me because blood pressure doesn't just change like it did for no reason.

I started feeling a thrill in December 2014 and started experiencing fatigue, especially when working out, starting around July 2015. I self-diagnosed myself as having aortic regurgitation in early August 2015, which I confirmed with my cardiologist via an echocardiogram on August 27, 2015.

One interesting note is that the murmur I had was somewhat unique. When my cardiologist first listened to it, she said, "Wow, I've never heard anything like that. You definitely have something real going on." She didn't even want to speculate what the problem was. I could hear the murmur myself at times, and it kept me awake. My girlfriend could also hear it sometimes when standing near me or lying next to me. I described to my cardiologist how it felt like a cell phone was vibrating in my chest, and the sound also reminded me of the sound of cooing pigeons we had on our house at one point. I also told my cardiologist about a "cooing murmur" I had read about. She said, "That's an excellent description I would have never thought of." Despite her not wanting to speculate on the problem without an echocardiogram, she called me an hour after our first appointment and said, "I looked into the literature and did read about the cooing murmur. You might be right about aortic insufficiency/regurgitation, but let's confirm with the echo later this week."

I pretty much knew my options before being diagnosed and was ready to get my valve replaced as soon as possible. After my TEE on September 4, 2015 showed a trileaflet valve with no signs of stenosis, calcification, disease, or aorta/aortic root dilation, I started investigating repair as an option.

I'm ready to have surgery as soon as possible so I can start recovery and get back to working out regularly, but I am currently searching for the right surgeon. I know repair is difficult and may not be an option. I am at peace with an aortic valve replacement, but since my valve appears healthy but for the right-coronary leaflet prolapsing, I am currently exploring the possibility of aortic valve repair with some of the best surgeons in the country to make sure I explore all options for treatment.

As a final note, my CT angiogram on September 8, 2015 showed no additional problems, i.e., my arteries are all clear, the aorta appears normal, etc.

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