@billmason My wife is the one pushing for surgery elsewhere and I try to remind her that Minnesota isn't someplace you just hop into the car and head over for a checkup. I don't think she realizes the number of doctor visits involved. She suggested checking on the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, but then she likes hot weather. I'm a Minnesotan. I loved the winters and hated the summers.

The surgeon I am going to see at OHSU does the highest number of mitral surgeries in the state, so I'm just going to see how comfortable I feel using him. I have a ton of questions regardless of who does it. The main one being, how soon can I get back to building stuff? I had major surgery reconstructing my wrist after falling off of scaffolding and breaking my back and destroying my wrist. They said six weeks minimum. The bones were fully healed and I was cleared for full work in three. I heal very quickly.