Tom, you are in good hands...some of the best in the medical profession. Hopefully the stem-cells will enable you to boost your T-cell load and help "lick" your disease.
The Mayo Medical Care Model should be what our Healthcare System should revolve around; physicians paid a stipend to practice their specialty and engage in collaborative patient diagnosis and management. Twenty-four years ago I listened to a cardiologist at the regional medical care facility here inform my wife that she had heart-failure due to a virus damaging her already congenitally dysfunctional heart valve (Mitral valve). He told her she could not have children and would eventually need a valve replacement, which is a once-in-a-lifetime surgery. In essence, when the mechanical valve failed, her life would end...quite a dual blow. I was working out of Minneapolis at the time. Consequently, we had many of our annual cardiovascular didactics at the Mayo Unit in Rochester. What I heard from my wife's cardiologist seemed quite dated, so I requested a second opinion. After much push-back from her managing cardiologist, we eventually received a referral to Mayo via her internist.
The physician team determined that she was a candidate for surgical REPAIR of her damaged mitral valve. During the pre-surgical prep and evaluation, they found that she also had a myxomatous tumor growing (Missed by two cardiologists at the regional medical facility during two heart scans eleven months prior when she was having visual field disturbances.) on the damaged mitral valve margin, requiring an additional surgery. After extensive discussion with her physician team, we determined that back-to-back procedures would be the best approach. Her surgeries lasted just under seven hours; both procedures performed off-pump to minimize stroke risk due to the length of time she was sedated and prone. At that time, off-pump surgeries were not very common. Dr.Schaff performed her surgery via a lateral approach, entering between her ribs just below her right breast to better access the back side of the heart which is canted back slightly in the thoracic cavity. He removed her myxoma and sewed what essentially was a "dart" in the valve leaflet, as well as stitching an annular ring around the valve margin to restrict valve leaflet "blow-back" during systolic contraction and minimize leakage back into the atrium.
Today, she rides her horse, xc-skis, snowshoes, hikes, and walks our labs down the beaches of Lake Superior with me...a marked change from barely being able to climb two flights of stairs. In serious medical cases, always get a second opinion, particularly now in our current healthcare arena. A little over a year after her surgery the New England Journal of Medicine published a study that essentially concluded far too many community based cardiologists were still recommending management of limiting mitral valve prolapse via artificial valve replacement when surgical valve repair offered better outcomes. I made sure her initial treating CD received a gratis copy. He thanked me by having me barred from his office.
Oh, Tom, if you are an Italian food lover, Victoria's serves excellent cuisine; a cioppino better than any I have eaten in San Francisco. They are located by the Kahler Hotel opposite Mayo.
]. Couldn't resist Tom. Great news and glad to hear. Let me know what we can do to help.
