Today is Tuesday, August 12th, and I have just returned from my visit from Dr. Balkhy. Though I had five pages of questions to ask the good doctor, I was basically hoping for two things:
1. A clear and definitive description of the procedure that would be taking place
2. Confirmation that the mortality rate for my surgery was similar to the norm for valve replacement surgeries (around 3%).
Unfortunately, I went 0 for 2.
***Caution - lengthy medical jibber-jabber to follow***
Dr. Balkhy explained that in addition to the replacement of the aortic valve, at least portions of the ascending aorta would need to be replaced. Unfortunately, he will not know if the portion of the ascending aorta closest to the valve will need to be replaced until the surgery has already started and the breastbone has been opened. If this portion needs to be removed, this lengthens and complicates the surgery, as the coronary arteries need to be detached from my current aorta and reattached to the Dacron graft that would replace that portion of the aorta.
Translation: He's going to open me up, take a look, and make a judgement call on the spot.
This information led me to my next question - how does this affect the mortality rate? (A natural question for someone that has spend many years in the actuarial profession). According to Dr. Balkhy's best guess, the mortality rate is cumulative as follows:
3%: Valve replacement/open heart procedure
2%: Bleeding complications associated with vonWillebrand (genetic bleeding disorder)
2%: Complications related to replacement of ascending aorta and reattachment of coronary arteries
Total mortality rate: 7%
He also listed the chance of a non-fatal incident (such as stroke or paralysis) as relatively minor (0-2%).
I guess that I should consider a 93% survival rate to be a good thing, and I'm sure that in a few days, I'll feel better about it. However, right now, I'm having a bit of trouble coming to terms with this info.
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