My heart inside out
Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 10:58 am
Hello everyone,
This is to let you know about my recent medical condition and the future. I am currently at home recovering from open heart surgery where I had my aortic valve replaced with a mechanical valve (St. Jude style) last week, Thursday July 22nd. I am doing amazingly well. I know that to some of you this will be a total surprise, but truly we did not see the situation as being serious enough to warrant public broadcast until now.
Five months ago (February of 2004) I had a physical in anticipation of my upcoming 40th birthday. The doctor doing the physical spent an extraordinary amount of time listening to my heart, finally resulting in his statement, “Your heart sounds terrible, you need to see a cardiologist right away.” I was aware that I had heart murmur (leaking valve) since birth but it had never been an issue in any physical activity and honestly I had no indications that anything was wrong now other than this strong verbal pronouncement. I did follow-up, the same day in fact, with an ultrasound of my heart, which resulted in a chart of numbers that was beyond my ability to interpret. I faxed them off to the only real heart specialist I was acquainted with, Dr. Mike Petracek a heart surgeon from Nashville that I knew was one of the best in country. I really knew Mike through his wife Connie Petracek, a US Shooting Team member who had been on the ’92 and ’96 Olympic Teams, and had been one the top pistol shooters when she was competing.
Mike indicated the results showed the leakage was beyond an acceptable level, and had started to enlarge (damage) the heart but was very minor at this point. We ultimately did some more testing but the upshot was that I should plan to have the valve replaced while my heart was still overall very healthy, sometime within the next 12 months, to keep it healthy. So we did some figuring of my scheduled events of 2004 (engraving, shooting events, National Guard stuff etc, and picked July 22 as the day to do it with the following 12 week recovery time.
Well, we did the deed last Thursday and I can’t say enough about Mike. Mike has surgeons from all the US and the world who come to learn from him and he has gone overseas including China to teach his heart surgery techniques. Its funny he made a comment about surgeons that I see of engravers and shooters as well, that rang very true to me. He said that most surgeons have the ability to cut and sew, but very few have the ability to visualize the overall project and how it will come out in the end. They spend too much time worrying about how it will come it while there are doing it, rather than having that assurance that it will come out as intended, which is of course detrimental to the final product.
Rhonda had stayed with Mike and Connie during my surgery and been helping Connie pick and can the vegetables from Connie’s huge garden., something Rhonda would normally be doing at our house this time of year anyway. Connie was glad for the help and Rhonda was happy to have something to occupy her mind other than thinking about me. By Saturday afternoon the 24th, I was doing well enough to be checked out of the hospital, and go home with Mike to let him monitor me from his house. What a real treat to discover that Mike was gourmet cook as well, I was eating fantastically prepared buffalo, elk, and red fish from the Gulf along with all the fresh veggies from the garden over the next few days, Wow! It amazed that I could be doing so well 3 days after surgery, including walking up and down 2 flights of stairs on a regular basis. Don’t get me wrong, I am still sore, tired, groggy at times, and of course I am on various medications at the moment, to include some pain stuff, but overall I am doing really well all things considered, Fantastic really.
I expect a complete recovery, with 12 weeks being required for the breastbone to knit back together where it was sawn in half. I got home yesterday, and will continue to walk and do everything within limits to hasten my recovery. Probably even do some engraving in the next week or so.
If you want to send me an e-mail that’s fine, the computer is where I will be spending the bulk of my time the next few weeks. If you feel the need to send flowers, I would much prefer that you make a donation in that amount to USA Shooting, One Olympic Plaza, Colorado Springs, CO 80909. www.usashooting.com
Anyway I consider myself very fortunate to have friends like Mike and Connie, and friends like you. You all are a very important part of who I am.
My Best wishes to all of you,
Scott
This is to let you know about my recent medical condition and the future. I am currently at home recovering from open heart surgery where I had my aortic valve replaced with a mechanical valve (St. Jude style) last week, Thursday July 22nd. I am doing amazingly well. I know that to some of you this will be a total surprise, but truly we did not see the situation as being serious enough to warrant public broadcast until now.
Five months ago (February of 2004) I had a physical in anticipation of my upcoming 40th birthday. The doctor doing the physical spent an extraordinary amount of time listening to my heart, finally resulting in his statement, “Your heart sounds terrible, you need to see a cardiologist right away.” I was aware that I had heart murmur (leaking valve) since birth but it had never been an issue in any physical activity and honestly I had no indications that anything was wrong now other than this strong verbal pronouncement. I did follow-up, the same day in fact, with an ultrasound of my heart, which resulted in a chart of numbers that was beyond my ability to interpret. I faxed them off to the only real heart specialist I was acquainted with, Dr. Mike Petracek a heart surgeon from Nashville that I knew was one of the best in country. I really knew Mike through his wife Connie Petracek, a US Shooting Team member who had been on the ’92 and ’96 Olympic Teams, and had been one the top pistol shooters when she was competing.
Mike indicated the results showed the leakage was beyond an acceptable level, and had started to enlarge (damage) the heart but was very minor at this point. We ultimately did some more testing but the upshot was that I should plan to have the valve replaced while my heart was still overall very healthy, sometime within the next 12 months, to keep it healthy. So we did some figuring of my scheduled events of 2004 (engraving, shooting events, National Guard stuff etc, and picked July 22 as the day to do it with the following 12 week recovery time.
Well, we did the deed last Thursday and I can’t say enough about Mike. Mike has surgeons from all the US and the world who come to learn from him and he has gone overseas including China to teach his heart surgery techniques. Its funny he made a comment about surgeons that I see of engravers and shooters as well, that rang very true to me. He said that most surgeons have the ability to cut and sew, but very few have the ability to visualize the overall project and how it will come out in the end. They spend too much time worrying about how it will come it while there are doing it, rather than having that assurance that it will come out as intended, which is of course detrimental to the final product.
Rhonda had stayed with Mike and Connie during my surgery and been helping Connie pick and can the vegetables from Connie’s huge garden., something Rhonda would normally be doing at our house this time of year anyway. Connie was glad for the help and Rhonda was happy to have something to occupy her mind other than thinking about me. By Saturday afternoon the 24th, I was doing well enough to be checked out of the hospital, and go home with Mike to let him monitor me from his house. What a real treat to discover that Mike was gourmet cook as well, I was eating fantastically prepared buffalo, elk, and red fish from the Gulf along with all the fresh veggies from the garden over the next few days, Wow! It amazed that I could be doing so well 3 days after surgery, including walking up and down 2 flights of stairs on a regular basis. Don’t get me wrong, I am still sore, tired, groggy at times, and of course I am on various medications at the moment, to include some pain stuff, but overall I am doing really well all things considered, Fantastic really.
I expect a complete recovery, with 12 weeks being required for the breastbone to knit back together where it was sawn in half. I got home yesterday, and will continue to walk and do everything within limits to hasten my recovery. Probably even do some engraving in the next week or so.
If you want to send me an e-mail that’s fine, the computer is where I will be spending the bulk of my time the next few weeks. If you feel the need to send flowers, I would much prefer that you make a donation in that amount to USA Shooting, One Olympic Plaza, Colorado Springs, CO 80909. www.usashooting.com
Anyway I consider myself very fortunate to have friends like Mike and Connie, and friends like you. You all are a very important part of who I am.
My Best wishes to all of you,
Scott