Sent: July 11, 2012

To: Adams, David

Dear Doctors Adams and Anyanwu and the Mount Sinai Team,

This year was my best spring break trip ever. During spring break at my school, my family and I traveled to New York for surgery. I picked Mount Sinai based on the strong recommendations of my two cardiologists and the hospital's international reputation for excellence in heart surgery. At the end of my consultation with Dr. Adams, six weeks before the date for my surgery, I knew I was making the best choice. My operation was complicated; it was my second mitral valve repair surgery. My first surgery in 2005 at a Georgia hospital reduced my valve leakage to a measurable but minor amount. That repair eventually failed, leaving me in very bad shape last fall: severe regurgitation, atrial flutter, structural abnormalities, and a drastically low ejection fraction. This time my surgery at Mt Sinai, and my overall hospital experience, could not have gone better. A team of two surgeons, Doctors Adams and Anyanwu, accomplished a perfect repair of my mitral and tricuspid valves, plus performed a maze procedure to reduce my risk of cardiac arrhythmia.

My two post-surgery echocardiograms both have shown no valve leakage whatsoever. Listening with the stethoscope, one hears nothing but normal beats: no whoosh, murmur, or click sound. Nor have I had any reoccurrence of arrhythmia since my discharge from Mt Sinai. This was confirmed last month by a holter monitor test, which recorded my heart's electrical activity for 48 hours. My left atrium, severely enlarged at the time of surgery, has reduced in size to 4.5 cm (close to normal), and my ejection fraction has rebounded to close to the normal range. My recovery has gone extremely well. With a repaired heart, I feel better than I have in years. One of my hobbies is running, which I was cleared to resume last month. I've walked almost daily since my surgery, but since Father's Day my workouts are "walk-runs," for which I alternate brisk walking and running. I'm gradually building up the length of my running segments. Today's workout was 16 minutes walking and 20 minutes running. ... Next year: the New York City Marathon.

I am truly blessed by the amazing team of doctors and assistants who took care of me at Mt Sinai. Without their gifts, I would have never arrived at where I am today, with my health turned around and the prospect of a long, active life. You have my unending gratitude.

Jim