Lots of advice

The outreach of friends and family is comforting. I'm thankful to know we're not alone in trying to figure out our next steps.

• Norma sent a link to the scientific library at American Heart Association, where I did some searching. I've sent an email to a D. Craig Miller, M.D., FAHA, a researcher at Stanford (his profile says he's involved in subvalvular stuff) who might be able to make a recommendation.
• Aunt Dorcas & Uncle Scotty are asking Little Scotty for his feedback, and have also forwarded our message on to a friend whose son-in-law is a cardiologist at the University of Michigan Medical School.
• Jeff has generously offered to connect us with cardiologists he met at Cleveland Clinic while there with his father Lou.
• Denise sent a message this afternoon suggesting that we check with Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Hospital in Houston.

In my online research, I'm thinking that subvalvular web may also be called subvalvular aortic stenosis.

Jeff sent along a great definition he found....

http://www.medicinenet.com/aortic_stenosis/page3.htm
How does aortic stenosis affect the left ventricle pump?
Symptoms and heart problems in aortic stenosis are related to the degree of narrowing of the aortic valve area. Patients with mild aortic valve narrowing may experience no symptoms. When the narrowing becomes significant (usually greater that 50% reduction in valve area), the pressure in the left ventricle increases and a pressure difference can be measured between the left ventricle and the aorta. An easy way to conceptualize the size issues is to think of a normal aortic valve as being about a "half-dollar" size in diameter, and a significantly narrowed valve to be less than a "dime" in size. To compensate for the increasing resistance at the aortic valve, the muscles of the left ventricle thicken to maintain pump function and cardiac output. This muscle thickening causes a stiffer heart muscle which requires higher pressures in the left atrium and the blood vessels of the lungs to fill the left ventricle. Even though these patients may be able to maintain adequate and normal cardiac output at rest, the ability of the heart to increase output with exercise is limited by these high pressures. As the disease progresses the increasing pressure eventually causes the left ventricle to dilate, leading to a decrease in cardiac output and heart failure.

While I worry about all this, life continues. 48-hours post cardiac catheter, Keith is feeling closer to normal, and has spent most the day toggling between his chaise lounge in the backyard and the Olympics. We've seen swimmers, rowing, badminton, basketball and cycling. I'm astounded by the beauty of the landscape and the lack of observers...., and that badminton is an Olympic sport.

I just finished reading The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond. The book is about a woman who loses her fiance's six-year-old daughter on the beach, and her search for the child. It is a gut-wrenching story full of love, longing and guilt. The main character, Abby, keeps coming back to the thought of how life sometimes changes in a single, sudden moment.