Greg Harper

My name is Greg Harper. I am 29 years old and live in Irving, Texas. I work as a Manufacturing 

Engineer at a fiber optic technology company. I have been fortunate enough to have a tremendous amount of support from my wife Susan, her family, and my family.

The condition was originally found during a routine physical while I lived in East Texas. My primary care physician heard a slight murmur. She assured me that this was most likely a benign condition, but suggested that I visit a cardiologist to be sure. I scheduled an appointment with a cardiologist in February 1999. After an echocardiogram, he concluded that I had a slight regurgitation in my aortic valve. He prescribed that I visit a cardiologist every 5 years to check the progress of the murmur, but he felt that there was little to worry about. Since that visit, I did not experience any symptoms associated with my condition. Susan and I moved to Plano, Texas in September 1999. Once we settled into our new apartment, we decided to set-up new physicians in the area for our medical needs. While I did not have any symptoms, something told me to see a cardiologist. I made an appointment in March 2000.

After a stress test and an echocardiogram, the cardiologist determined that my aortic valve had a moderate to severe level of regurgitation that might require surgery to prevent heart failure. Not the best news for this 29 year old. The cardiologist prescribed Procardia XL to reduce my blood pressure in an effort to rest my left ventricle. I made a decision that day to reduce the stress in my life and enjoy living as much as possible.

A Trans-Esophageal Echocardiogram was performed in April to get a better look at my heart. The cardiologist discovered that I had a bicuspid aortic valve, which is a congenital defect. He seemed relieved about this discovery and decided that heart surgery could be avoided indefinitely. He suggested another echocardiogram later in the year to be sure that my left ventricle was not enlarging.

I returned to his office in August for another echocardiogram. This time my left ventricle was 6.1 sonometers in size, which is larger than normal. Rather than rush to surgery, the doctor prescribed Zestril as a final option to reduce the size of my heart. Six weeks later, another echocardiogram revealed that my heart was still increasing in size. The decision was made to conduct a catheterization of my heart to determine if there were any further defects or problems to correct while in surgery.

The catheterization went well, and I am happy that the results showed no other problems or arterial blockages. The only slight concern was that my aorta seems slightly larger than normal, which might complicate the surgery. Surgery was scheduled with a thoracic surgeon suggested by my cardiologist. I recommend that in most situations, you should follow your cardiologist's recommendations as long as you trust the physician. I had prior experience with another thoracic surgeon and decided to have him conduct the surgery. He had repaired my brother's heart many years ago, had significant experience with AVR's, and could guarantee me a private room after I left CVICU.

I took off from work a couple of weeks before the surgery to prepare myself. I spent the time getting our finances in order and preparing the power of attorney, living will, and simple will. These are not the things I had planned to be doing when I was 29 years old. I also skydived for the first and last time. I loved it and would highly recommend it to anyone not taking anti-coagulants.

The day of the surgery was not too bad. I arrived at Harris Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas ready to go. I did not enjoy the full body shave, but everything else went well. The surgery was a success and the thoracic surgeon confirmed that while my aorta was "generous" in size, it did not need to be replaced. He had replaced my aortic valve with a St. Judes mechanical valve. I woke up in the CVICU with the dreaded breathing tube, chest tubes, and catheter in place. Everyone there was very helpful and kind, and I spent most of my time there asleep.

The next day, prior to moving me to the private room, the nurses removed my breathing tube and the thoracic surgeon removed the chest tubes. The removal of the breathing tube went well, but the chest tubes were traumatic. Feeling those tubes being pulled through your chest is not a pleasant experience.

My stay in the private room went well. The nursing care was wonderful and my surgeon saw me every day of my stay. My total stay at the hospital was five days. I was sent home with my coumadin prescription, my Darvacet prescription, and my chest pillow.

During the first two weeks of recovery, I experience significant chest pain. At times, the pain seemed to radiate from the area around my heart, which can be frightening. The doctor reassured me that this was normal chest pain and was not related to a problem with my heart. Soon after I left the hospital, I went to the cardiologist to have my protime checked. Riding in a car was very difficult for me, and that day I experienced some carsickness and even some numbness around my lips, gums, and teeth. I had a bad feeling that something had gone wrong, so the cardiologist ordered a CT scan to check for TIA's or a stroke. Thankfully, nothing was found. It seems that a combination of carsickness and hyperventilation caused my episode, but the event underscored the importance of staying calm and taking coumadin.

During my third week, I visited my cardiologist again. During the visit, I began to experience skipped beats. An EKG was performed and showed that my heart rate had unusual traits, but that is normal after an AVR. An echocardiogram was ordered, which showed that the valve was operating properly and that my left ventricle had shrunk back to its normal size. I was sent home with a halter monitor and orders not to worry about skipped beats or arrhythmias that are singular episodes. The only thing to worry about is a sustained irregular heartbeat.

After about five days, the skipped beats, arrhythmias, and double beats subsided. I began to feel better and gain more confidence in my physical condition. As Thanksgiving approached, I spent more time out with family and began to live a normal life again. Then I was shocked into reality due to my own mistakes. The Friday after Thanksgiving, my wife and I spent time with her family purchasing Christmas gifts. After a long day of shopping, we enjoyed some wine and cheese until the early morning hours of Saturday morning. I am not a heavy drinker, and on this night I had only five small glasses of wine, but his activity put me into atrial fibrillation later that morning. We rushed to Medical City hospital, where I was admitted for medication and observation in the Heart Monitoring Unit. I spent Saturday and part of Sunday facing the realization that I had to take better care of myself. Fortunately, the medications returned my heart to normal sinus rhythm 4 hours after arriving at the hospital.

Since that experience, I have been walking and resting. I return to work tomorrow for half days. Thursday, December 7 will mark six weeks after the surgery. I feel very fortunate to have made it this far and I look forward to a long, ticking life. This website has been a wonderful information resource and has comforted my wife and I during this ordeal.