Update on Evie's Upcoming Heart Surgery

All the testing's been completed.

Evie's determined to have her surgery performed at the University of Pennsylvania hospital in Philadelphia, the place nearby most highly regarded for cardiac care...

...and, to have it performed by the most highly respected surgeon there, who, understandably, has the longest waiting list.

We live in a condo community peopled mostly by geezers. We are still among the youngest of our neighbors.

Evie's heart problem, a bicuspid aortic valve, is very serious but it's also fairly common. About 3% of the population has that condition.

Evie's actually the fifth person in our neighborhood to go to Penn to have this operation.

She's the only one among our neighbors who may be able to hold on long enough to get to the surgeon everyone here wanted.

She's, the second youngest of the five and has been under care for the condition the longest.

Thanks to good doctoring earlier in life, she was diagnosed far sooner than most people are and, now, that seems to be paying off.

Also, she's under the care of a very good cardiologist in our area. One who goes out of her way to keep us apprised of what's going on with Evie's heart.

The cardiologist called Evie last week to explain what can be known from this last round of tests.

The bottom line is that the value is in bad shape and is deteriorating rapidly...

...but Evie's heart...

...and her aorta itself...

...seem to be healthy.

This is unusual and one advantage in the fact that Evie is comparatively young to be this ill.

And, it means that she'll probably be able to get to the surgeon everyone here wanted.

The first meeting with the surgeon isn't until July 26, still three weeks out.

I can see her energy level decline by the day.

We've had a horrible heat wave here for the past week and she's really struggling.

So, we'll see.

It appears that she'll get a tissue valve: pig or cow, perhaps human.

We're told that mechanical values last forever but would require Evie to take the blood thinner Coumadin, and there are possible issues with that.

----------------

One final note: Evie's a very private person but she is convinced that there is power in prayer...

...and she wants everyone in the world to be praying for her.

Her attitude's been amazing, especially recently. And, she often talks about feeling the power of people's prayer.

If you've been praying, thanks and please continue. If you haven't, it's not too late to start.