Sent: Wed, Feb 10, 2010

To: Adams, David

Deciding to have open-heart surgery as an asymtomatic 28 year old girl was incredibly difficult. I had always known about my mitral-valve prolapse (my dad heard my murmur when I was seven). I have had echocardiogram’s ever since I can remember and they had been consistent until a stress echo where my ejection fraction was reported at 53-55 and it had been above 60 a year before on the same stress test. Within the next few weeks my cardiologist told me I would need surgery soon.

I went to see several cardiothoracic surgeons and surprisingly had been told a wide range of opinions and approaches from surgeons making my decision even more difficult. It was a confusing process to know what information to believe and whose word to trust. Fortunately, I had done some research about my condition with my Mom that revealed the advantages of getting a valve repaired instead of replaced as a young female patient. One website we looked at was Dr. David Adams’ site at mitralvalverepair.org. We found current information that made me hopeful of getting a repair and scheduled an appointment at Mt. Sinai’s specialty center in New York. Dr. Adams was the first surgeon to look me in the eye and explain in simple terms what was going on inside my body. He also said, with certainty, that my mitral valve could be repaired. It was upsetting and relieving all at once.

It was a long doctor’s appointment, one that my Mom and I both cried during. When we left, it was clear that surgery was medically necessary soon; but, more importantly, I trusted Dr. Adams. He was the first surgeon to say my valve was something he sees and operates on often (a Barlow’s valve), what a relief! I am now more than a year post-op (Dr. Adams repaired my valve on 9/9/08) and I can say with confidence that after all the stress and wondering about this life-changing decision, surgery was a good choice. My mitral valve no longer leaks and I’m back to a happy, active lifestyle.