I just had successful surgery (11/4) of both my ascending aortic aneurysm and a bicuspid aortic value. It was open heart surgery. The bicuspid valve was a wild card for my surgeon (the scans were inconclusive and he and everyone on his team was convinced I had a normal tri-leaflet value). We did however discuss the chances of being bicuspid before surgery and decided to replace it with a bovine valve. But my surgeon made a game time decision (with the chest open) to repair the valve instead of replacing it in the hopes it lasts longer than a bovine valve. It made for a much longer surgery. So far so good.

Unfortunately for me I ran into some other complications post surgery that did not impact my heart. There was fluid build up in my right lung that required a second surgery (a VATS procedure to have all this gunk as they called it removed). Not to be a downer but after spending a week in one hospital for the heart surgery I had to go to another hospital for an elevated heart rate which led to the lung issue. 23 days in two separate hospitals with three procedures. Much more than I bargained for but I am still on this side of the grass.