Search results

howdy everyone! I just referred a pre-op friend to the site, so I thought I'd stop by the 'hood and see what's what. I'm delighted to see that The Order of the Tawdry Shirt still seems to be kicking along, although I can't seem to see any of the photos. I'm now in Miami, FL, working on a...

I thought I posted this link a few weeks ago, but I can't find it now. Apparently, those of us with bicuspid aortic valves are predisposed to brain aneurysms. Here is the director of the Microvascular Neurosurgery Program in the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center...

Greetings, all! It's been a long time since I've been on the Forum, so please excuse my absence. I hope each of you are well. I'm now two-and-a-half years post-op from my Ross Procedure and life is great- still working a fair amount overseas in far flung places where it would be a real hassle...

...I was unable to thank Dr. Paul Stelzer for the work he was doing inside my chest cavity, so I called him to do so today, exactly 365 days post op. I just wanted to pop in share the celebration with everyone, and to thank each of you for all you've done to make my road to, through, and past...

On March 31, two days shy of 16 weeks after my Ross Procedure, I ran the Monument Avenue 10k here in Richmond, along with 25,022 other participants. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and a thrill to be able to participate, especially since Noni, who hates to run, ran with me. I'd not been...

Greetings, all. I have an idea. (Of course I've also had half a bottle of wine tonight, but that's beside the point...) TOOTS seems to be going over quite well. The photographs that are being posted are both entertaining and inspiring. The demand for Tawdry Shirts continues to outstrip the...

Greetings, all. I'm sitting beside my mom's hospital bed in the cardiac unit of her hometown hospital. She was admitted last night after going to the ER for what we found out was a bout of atrial fibrillation. It had been going on for at least 24 hours before she decided to call her doctor...

Two papers on the Ross Procedure that I'd not seen before are now posted for your perusal on my server. The first is quite a bit technical: http://www.stretchphotography.com/avr/documents/Ross%20Overview-Hopkins.doc The second is a bit shorter and a bit less technical...

Thanks in advance.

Greetings, all. The folks in cardiac rehab did a stress test on me today, exactly 12 weeks post-op, and the news was good. My cardiopulmonary function was better than my first visit there, at 3 weeks post, by a whopping 81%. (I was on Lopressor during that first visit, which kept my BP down...

Takes 5-10 minutes. Kind of interesting. http://livingto100.com

I know somebody's going to call me a hard-ass, but as one of the two instigators of the TTS (Tawdry Shirt Tradition), I would like to suggest that SPSS's (Scar Pictures sans Shirt) not be posted in the TOOTS (The Order of the Tawdry Shirt) forum. The idea of TOOTS was and is to promote general...

We have a few people just out of or getting ready to go into surgery, and they need some shirts. I think Ross has one, and Pedimed another? Is there a third floating about?

Today was the first visit with my cardiologist, Dr. George Vetrovec, the chief of cardiology at Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital, since my surgery. I was a bit concerned because the post-op echo report from Beth Israel on 12/15 showed "mild aortic regurgitation." Like the chief of...

Greetings, all. Sorry I've been absent for a while. I spent most of the weekend with my Boy Scout troop (a good endurance test for 6 weeks post op!) AND... I finally got the photos of my surgery posted. The gallery's linked in my sig below, or you can just click here...

...then again, mebbe I can. The attached photograph is me on the table just before they opened up my chest. I'm posting this because there've been some posts about throat soreness after surgery. I was surprised to find that I didn't notice any, myself. Still trying to get that web gallery up...

Goodness... I couldn't believe this when I saw it. This is my diseased aortic valve just after Dr. Stelzer removed it from my heart. Looking at this, I can hardly believe I was alive with it, much less that I wasn't more symptomatic than I was! Good thing I got the surgery when I did. If...

UPS just stopped by and I now have not one, not two, not three... but FIVE DVDs of images from my surgery. Along with a nice, big print, suitable for framing, of my very own heart. :) I'm going to get to editing them pronto, and will put up a web gallery as soon as possible. Question...

Greetings, all. I feel so far behind the curve on this one! Noni said that David had posted his shirt picture somewhere, and I think Nan has done so, also... Anyone know where I can see those? Attached you will find one photograph (by Noni) of me doing my best Bob H. pose/Mick Jagger...

Greetings, all! Just wanted to check in and let everyone know that I'm doing really well. Noni and I went out to dinner this evening, and although I get weary easily, I think I'm doing quite well. Breathing is good, no pain except for soreness around the right rib cage toward my back, and...