re: Sarkisian had life saving heart surgery in Birmingham in 2020 per Yahoo! report

Wow, what an amazing story. Thanks for sharing.

I hadn't been feeling quite up-to-par for about 6 months, and the week before Labor Day 3 years ago, we were in FL checking on the progress of our new house being built. All week I had this heaviness in my chest and kept asking my wife if I had a fever, thinking it was COVID. She told me no about 3 times. Later that week on a Thursday, I went to bed and the heaviness was pretty bad and had a small ache in my left arm. I got out of bed, walked around for 30 minutes, and went back to bed. Friday morning I still felt so-so, and better on Saturday. So, Sunday I drove us back to Virginia Beach, VA (14 hour drive) and felt okay. Monday, which was a holiday, wife and I went to work to catch up due to being out of town for a week, and felt okay. Tuesday morning first-thing I called my PCP to get a check up. When she heard my symptoms from the previous Thursday, she told me to get to the ER asap.

So, you need to go in and schedule a stress test, and they'll find out what's going on.

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Covid is a joke in a situation like that and you damn well know it. Sounds like someone has buyer's remorse for getting jabbed and boostered multiple times.

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There might not be one single other situation where worrying about COVID is more warranted than during open heart surgery, you absolute clown

Coach Saban has done a lot through his Nick’sKids foundation for the local community and my family is very thankful for Coach’s support. I have met him a couple of times and he was always gracious with his time. I am thankful he ended up in our state than any other (the bazillion NCs notwithstanding).

NicksKids

I've decided to pull for Sark now.

God has an angel hovering over him. Geaux Horns...

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And no i don't think covid would have made any difference had he had caught it while recovering. Stop insulting other people just because you are scared of the cold.

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Damn you are an ignorant fool. I had a client who went for a relatively simple, routine heart catheterization. Ended up contracting COVID while at the hospital, and died from it a couple of months later.

You would probably question why there is any need for sterility at all in surgeries.

Exactly the same surgery that I had performed at NY Presbyterian in late 2016 - an Ascending Aortic Anyeurism caused by a congenital bicuspid valve.

The doctor was able to clean mine up and save the valve, though - ultimately it was more of an aorta problem than a valve problem. The REASON it is a problem is that instead of a nice even flow with a tricuspid valve, the bicuspid valve opens more like a fish's mouth, and the flow dynamics are changed into more of a jet squirt of blood leaving your heart instead of a nice even flow. This jet squirt pounds your aortic wall and balloons it out into the type of size they mentioned.

My doctor was a rock star of a surgeon, he had put NBA players back on the court with the same problem. I now have a 5" chunk of polyester tubing sewn to the top of my heart, but they tell me it is a lifetime fix. They put both wire ties and plates back onto my sternum - my chest x-ray looks like the floor of a hardware store on Saturday afternoon. I have two wire ties, four titanium plates, and 26 screws.

Four notes:

1) Incidentally for Bama fans... this was also the same problem that Freddy Kitchens had that almost killed him. He actually had an aortic dissection - but they were able to get him to a hospital in time. There's normally a 98.5% mortality rate with dissections or something like that.

2) If you ever have to have this surgery (or any open heart surgery), ask and request information about a retrograde perfusion. They put your brain on a separate blood flow loop from the rest of your body and this significantly reduces the risk of strokes after the procedure.

3) This is a very serious life threatening condition. Go to where the experts are. At the time of my surgery, not even UAB, Emory, or Vanderbilt performed this surgery on a frequent basis. There are a handful (maybe 10-15) hospitals around the country that have specific aortic surgery teams. I'd go THERE no matter the cost instead of a local hospital surgeon who normally only does bypasses. Trust me on this one. I did a lot of research and selected New York Presbyterian. Mayo, Johns Hopkins, Baylor, Cedars Sinai, Cleveland Clinic, etc are the other major centers that have these sort of teams. There have probably been some new ones added since my surgery.

4) Final note... if you ever find out you have a bicuspid valve, get your family and kids checked out. This condition is hereditary.

Good luck.

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Surgeons made their incision, sawed the sternum with a surgical tool

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So, Cutty Sark ?

Will you please try to quit spilling your ignorance all over the board? "You're more likely to die going to work" idiotic red herring bullshite. Yeah, you're more likely to die if you're not wearing your seat belt. Should we abolish seat belt laws? I'm 38. Life long athlete up through college, trained MMA as an adult, always in good shape. I have high blood pressure and an aortic aneurysm that may require surgery, and the only reason my cardiologists can figure is genetics (I was adopted as a newborn in the 80s and have no access to familial medical records). Doing everything possible to minimize possible illnesses and infections is common sense to all but the absolute dumbest in our population.

Covid is a nothing burger. I see a lot of people are still brainwashed for when they decide to ramp up hype about the newest "strain" again. Nice to know.