My SECOND open heart surgery.
Why are you afraid to stop your world ?
Spring, 2007
After my open-heart aortic valve replacement surgery in 1998, my life resumed as normal. It was growing apparent to me that the way my brain worked had always been to focus on the present, while using the past to teach me the lessons that would protect me from harm. But of course, one cannot be completely protected from the harm that living a life can bring. In the nine years since 1998, I worked hard to build my practice while raising two boys — being quite involved in their growth, teaching them how to write well and providing opportunities for them to travel, be involved in music and play sports. While I spent most of my hours working in my dental practice, I felt that my work as a dentist was never what defined me. I knew that those things that the work could provide us - the travel, the music and the sports would enrichen not only my life, but the life of my wife and sons as well. In a wonderful TED talk presented by Sir Ken Robinson, a British author and international advisor on education — Sir Ken speaks to his frustration that education at the primary level, places much more importance (and resources) on math and English than it does on music and art. * Somehow, like Sir Ken, I thought it was extremely important to make sure my kids expanded their minds and be creative and experience the joy of sport as well as be capable in math and English. Both of my sons worked very hard to achieve highly in their academics and they were both accomplished musicians and terrific athletes. During those wonderful years, we traveled regularly as a family - frequenting museums, Broadway shows, music concerts (especially those in which my sons were performing in!), and sporting events (we are unrelenting Yankees fans!). Shelley and I taught our sons about good food and especially about what it took to be kind and generous human beings. I even coached Jesse’s travel soccer team, the East Meadow Sharks, which brought indescribable joy to me and lifelong friendships for him. Those are the things that defined me. My work, while gratifying in many ways, was simply the means to the real end.
In the spring of 2oo7, almost nine years to the date of my first aortic valve replacement, the valve symptoms hit me again, this time in the form of a chronic cough and orthopnea , which is difficulty lying down fully to stay asleep, being awoken repeatedly, gasping for breath- a frequent and frightening symptom of advanced valvular disease. Yet again, one Monday morning I had had enough- and there was another emergency run to my cardiologist — who this time immediately sent me to New York University Medical Center, to see a famous heart surgeon named Stephen Colvin. Dr. Colvin was a pioneer in what had become known as minimally invasive valve surgery and was the founder of Project Kids Worldwide, a group dedicated to improving medical treatment for poor children. His involvement in such projects made me think about how I would like to give back to my community — or the world someday in the future.
When I arrived at NYU, Dr. Colvin saw me immediately in his office. In nearly opposite fashion to my first heart surgeon, his manner was lovely and gregarious. He sat on the edge of his desk, looking down at me as he spoke. His concentrated glare told me that he was gravely concerned and he told me three things. First, he told me that I was very sick, which I knew. Second, he told me that I had let my symptoms go much too long without reaching out for help (my stoicism has always been the chief complaint my doctors have had with regard to my dealing with my heart disease) which I also knew. And the third thing that he told me, leaning forward toward me and locking his eyes on mine was, “I’m not going to let you die,” which I was pleased to now know.
My aortic valve surgery this time would be somewhat different than the first one. This surgery would be a robotically-assisted surgery, a new state-of -the-art for aortic valve replacement. (The aortic valve is the valve that directs blood flow from the left ventricle to the aorta, where the newly oxygenated blood can now be delivered to the rest of the body. This was still considered an open heart surgery because I was connected to a heart-lung bypass machine, which means that the heart is stopped during the surgery. The advantage of the robotically-assisted surgery, however, is that the entry point is between the ribs on the right side of the chest (coined a minimally-invasive surgery)**, avoiding the cracking open of the chest and allowing for faster healing post-operatively. When Dr. Colvin was operating he decided that there was also need for repair of the mitral valve (the valve that directs the flow of blood between the left atrium and the left ventricle) as well. Dr. Colvin had been a pioneer in the development of certain of the rings that were used to repair the mitral valve, so my good fortune continued with my having been placed in his hands. In addition, Dr. Colvin had determined that my body had built enough collateral circulation, that any coronary artery disease that I may have shown signs of, like nine years before, did not need to be addressed with surgical intervention. Because of the minimally invasive valve surgery approach, I was left with a very small scar above my right pectoral muscle, and more importantly my recovery was indeed much quicker this time around— back at work in less than three weeks, with my dental practice still intact — again!
Several months after my recovery, at a follow-up appointment with my cardiologist, Dr. Stanley, I learned that Dr. Colvin had died suddenly of multiple myeloma — just two days after he finally saw a doctor for pains he was having in his neck — almost certainly having putting off seeing a doctor earlier, echoes of the same stoicism that I had been guilty of…seems to be a common theme amongst us doctors or small business owners who are afraid to stop our world to provide ourselves the attention that we somehow forgot we needed.
*https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity/up-next?language=en
**https://www.google.com/search?q=minimally+invasive+mitral+valve+repair&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJs4L-rsjhAhUOVN8KHY0tC38Q_AUIDygC&biw=1515&bih=688#imgrc=B_20KrFDNoo1HM:&spf=1554996787676
