Hi, Juli, I am in the waiting room now for almost 16 years. I am pretty close and plan to have my surgery at Mayo in Minnesota. I live in Oregon and have been looking for a Cardio in Portland as a back up to do my 6 month check-ins and for post surgery in case of problems. I don't want to have to fly all the way to Mayo for every check up. So, are you looking for surgeons or cardiologists? I have been looking at OHSU, Providence, and Emmanuel. You can see the Docs on their prospective websites and check their profiles and it tells you if they are taking patients. My Mayo Cardio recommended two docs to me but neither are in network for my insurance. So that is a question. Which providers are in network for you or are you on Medicare (?) and in that case, I haven't even started researching those implications.
OHSU is a teaching hospital and generally they require you to accept treatment via med students. Heavy pressure there. But, they are adept at special cases. I am still researching the other two hospitals and there seems to be options. How do you know you are due for surgery in two months? Have you already been working with a cardio and surgeon? In Portland? McBon
