My Journey with BAV Disease- I Just Keep Moving
By Michael Kohring
In the 1960’s when I was born, I was diagnosed with a heart murmur. Diagnostic procedures of the day did not reveal any further effects nor was anything unusual ever recorded. I went on to live my life limitless and free. I just kept moving! Every now and then a routine visit would cause a doctor to remind me of that old heart murmur.
In my early 40’s, I noticed on several occasions, I was getting exceedingly tired, rather quickly after playing with my kids. My primary physician referred me for a stress test. I do remember the lab technician calling in a staff cardiologist to discuss what she had seen. From there I was assigned a consulting cardiologist who informed me I had coarctation of the descending aorta… like a kink in a hose he described.
The fix was simple, a rather large stent was inserted into the kinked section of the descending aorta and that was that. However, I quickly learned a bi-cuspid aortic valve or BAV disease, usually accompanies the coarctation condition. And so it was, and my cardiologist would monitor it from time to time. But as for me I was free to do whatever I wanted. Just keep moving.
Ten years later, a critical symptom appeared. I was finding it extremely difficult to run. After about a quarter mile I was completely winded. It was time to replace the bi-cuspid aortic valve and the ascending aortic arch. I followed all the recommended pre–surgery guidelines and post-surgery rehab routines and I am now living freely with three prosthetics keeping me afloat – a descending aortic stent, a bovine tissue aortic valve and an aortic arch graft.
I like to share the anniversary of my surgery with my wife and kids as my second birthday. This year I will be celebrating birthday 2.7 and plan to run my 12th half marathon (post-surgery) by year’s end. My journey is not over, but I am fully healed and living life as it comes – traveling, running, swimming, yoga, hiking, fishing, walking, biking and kayaking. Just “keep moving” has a new meaning!
I know thoracic surgery is a major procedure that puts tremendous pressure on you physically and emotionally. At my surgery center, they provided me with meditation tracks for preparation. I listened to them every day leading up to the surgery and I am reminded how meditation helped me. How will I be after? How will I feel? Will I ever heal and feel normal again? To paraphrase the meditation: “Some healing will come from medications and treatments given to you. Some healing will come from within you. With your body and mind working together, everything heals.”
For more information on this topic, visit www.heart.org.
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