The future is full of parties

 I have a date.

A date with a surgeon!

As of this writing it's March 1st and 24 days from now I'm scheduled to go under the knife for a Bentall procedure with Dr. Reece at University of Colorado to replace my aortic valve as well as the ascending aortic root with an On-X ascending aortic prothesis.

The OnX Aortic prothesis 

If you've been following along, you know that making a decision on valves as well as a surgeon has been occupying all of my mental space and has been the most difficult decision in my life to make. I mean, when do you 'get' to choose what type of medical device goes into your chest as well as when to have it done?! 

It's been crazy to have caught the deterioration just before things go south and to make this mandatory surgery an 'elective' operation. In talking with my cardiologist last Thursday she said, "only bad things will happen if you don't have the operation sooner than later." She said there's no question you need the surgery, but since we're not under a catastrophic situation like a dissection, you can choose when to have it done. 

We both agreed that we have a slight window of time right now where I'm healthy and ready to get it over with along with the fact that recovery will happen during the crummy mud season for riding anyway and I can be back on my bike for the summer. Hell yeah!

Family is always close at heart

And speaking of cardiologists, I've found a keeper. Apparently I'm in the wrong business because EVERY cardiologist is booked these days. It's wild how few appointments are available but thanks to the online//virtual meeting options I was finally able to meet with Dr. Khanna at UCHealth last Thursday.

She came highly recommended as well as having come from the Mayo clinic, so I had really hoped she would be someone who would be on my 'team' and understand what my life would look like post op.

She totally get's me and is down with my game plan for valve choice, timeframe as well as getting back to a life of adventuring.

We're going to get to know each other very well over the rest of my life so it felt great to chat with someone who is excited to get me fixed up and back to living without the fear of heart failure.

As far as valve choice, I decided to go with the On-X mechanical valve. After (too) much research, discussion, thinking, weighing options, etc., I settled on the On-X brand because of the taller design and flared inlet that my surgeon likes because in his experience, it has a better track record of preventing Pannus. 

Pannus is one of the risk factors (along with a slew of others) that can occur post op where the body starts building up extra scar tissue below the mechanical valve and actually gets in the way of the blood flow. Since the On-X has a few tweaks over the St. Jude valve, it made sense to go with the newer technology.

After all the weighing of options, the On-X has the slight advantage over the St. Jude Regent valve with the reduced chance of Pannus and possibility of lower blood thinner requirements, which made it a winner in my book. 

Along with that, my surgeon likes to work with them when he's replacing the aortic root at the same time so I feel comfortable with him installing that valve.

Hot damn! Pencils down! Let's get on with this. 🤘

Feels good to finally have an operation date and a valve choice. And perfect timing as we had planned one last fat bike outing in Leadville for this past weekend. Not really a celebration, but with the weight of those decisions off my back it felt REALLY good to get away and relax for a couple of days.

Mt. Massive in the distance

With a heart rate monitor hooked up, I was able to enjoy some miles of smiles at a mellow pace. Cold, cold, crisp air and packed/groomed trails made for some heavenly riding at the Tennessee Pass area. For $18 a day, it's a great deal and there is some stellar riding to be had.

A nice loop down lower and then a steady climb to the top where a yurt resides, complete with food and beverages along with a deck sporting million dollar views and a fire pit to warm yourself.

Being prepared, we had some turkey wraps and hot apple cider / whiskey drinks, right there on the deck. It was stunning!

So that's that. March 25th 2021 will be a day to remember forever. Some say it's your second birthday and I'm cool with that. 

At 38yrs young I never thought this would be my story, but it is and I'm excited to see what I can do with a repaired valve.

I'll be getting work done the next 3 weeks as usual and then I'll be closing up shop until May(ish). A few things to prep around the house and such, but nothing drastic that I have to do or not do before the operation, per my doctors.

I'll have some more details on the patches very soon and a formal business announcement going out thanks to the help of some of our industry friends.

One thing is for sure, the Future is Full of Parties and I can't wait to party with you all!

-Joe