Friday, May 20, 2011

Vital Signs



Kudos - A Thank you to Dr. Junaid Khan and all the Staff at the Alta Bates Summit Cardiac ICU

"I met you at the presentation for people who have heart murmurs in Lafayette back in February. I was there to support a friend of mine who has a murmur and also to meet and thank Adam Pick and Dr. Khan, who have helped me in my own journey with heart disease. Dr. Junaid Khan replaced my mitral valve using the minimally invasive procedure and it has literally restored my life.

"With the exception of the 10 months before my surgery, when I was unknowingly in heart failure, I have always been super athletic and outdoorsy and I really thought I'd never feel well enough to hike and run again. I was wrong! Four weeks post op I went for a hike, was back at the gym by six weeks and at nine months I started thinking about how I would celebrate my 1 year anniversary.

"I discovered the American Heart Association sponsored a training program/fund raiser and that the event was going to be on May 1st - a year and a day after my surgery so I signed up. I had a great time training, raised a bunch of money and finished the course in just over three hours which is not super fast, but right there with the 'normal' people my age. Attached is the picture of me running.

"Turns out the fund raising event this year is on April 30th which is my 2 year anniversary exactly, so I signed up again :-). I've been having a great time training and am amazed that I feel even better this year than I did last year...my legs get tired before my heart does these days.

"I owe all of this to Dr. Junaid Khan, Dr. Luisa Munoz, and the wonderful nurses in the CIU at Summit - Toni David Wright who got me through that first scary night, Mia Pannell and Adrian Smith and many others whose names escape me - THANK YOU."