I've always been active... for the past 30 years I've been playing a lot of tennis... prior to that it was competitive volleyball where I met my wife. Cycling was a bigger part of my life in college along with soccer. I've always tired to stay in shape because of family history. Dad had arterial sclerosis and had the arteries replaced from his heart to his groin because he had little blood flow to his feat. This was back in 75 when I was 15 and he was 38. Before he was 60 he had quadruple bypass. I've tried to watch my cholesterol but I couldn't control my numbers without drugs and the side effects like sore knees made me stop the meds.

2 summers ago I was having trouble catching my breath while playing singles. at the time I blamed it on the heat since the humidity was high and the temp was in the 90s... I do live in Florida after all. When things finally cooled down I still didn't feel any better. I couldn't run a block without being winded. After my annual physical I made an appointment with the cardiologist. April of 19 I passed the stress test but an echo cardiogram confirmed moderate to severe aortic stenosis... dr. recommended not pushing myself so hard, stay hydrated, come back if the situation gets worse otherwise we'll retest in 6 months.

In October my stenosis was considered 'critical'. A normal aortic valve opens to the size of a quarter and my opening was the size of a dime. At that point they did a heart cath exam to see if there are any other problems that need to be treated, like blocked arteries... fortunately I had no other problems, despite my high cholesterol (around 250) so I was cleared to meet the surgeon... December 18th I checked into the hospital for AVR. I chose the engineered valve not the mechanical one because you can avoid the blood thinners for the rest of your life. I was out of the hospital on the 5th day and started my rehab.

By March I was back on the court hitting tennis balls, fully healed up but my conditioning was poor despite all the walking/treadmill/exercise bike I was doing in cardio rehab. In June I pulled the bike back out and I've been riding 3-4x per week averaging 100-200 miles. Now I'm holding my own again and outlasting my opponents on the tennis court. This summer I hope to get out and do some week long bike trips in the upper midwest... I just hope the vaccine is ready by then and most of the covid nightmare is over so it will be an enjoyable trip!