b'16 2021 I N N O V A T I V E T E C H N O L O G Y A N D P R O C E D U R E S | E X P E R T C A R E | W E A R E H E R ETRANSCATHETER AORTIC VALVE REPLACEMENT (TAVR) PROCEDURE PATIENTAndrew deTrevilleAndrew Andy deTrevilleI was shocked to learn I was inAside from swollen legs and remembers the ordeal his wifeheart failure, but I accepted it,ankles, Andy said he was not endured when she had open-heartAndy said. I dont remember beingexperiencing other heart failure surgery in the early 60sweeksparticularly frightened by the news,symptoms like fatigue or shortness in a Connecticut hospital beforewhich I think has something to doof breath, but the procedure and after the 11-hour procedurewith the way they broke it to me. resolved the valve problem and and another week of bed restHe got the news when he wentprevented potentially more serious when she got home. to the Emergency Departmentissues in the future. So, Andy was more than a littlesuspecting he had COVID-19. HeI consider myself rather fortunate, concerned in November 2020,tested negative for the virus andhe said. The procedure was almost when he learned he was sufferingreceived the heart diagnosis alonga non-event because it was so well from heart failure and needed awith a treatment plan and clearhandled and so devoid of trauma, new aortic heart valve. answers to his questions. he said. I avoided a crisis and with I kept telling myself Dont beThe fact that they had a no- very little discomfort.alarmed. Dont be nervous. Think ofnonsense approachLets getFrom the moment he arrived for what your wife went through withstarted doing the preliminaries, the procedure, Andy said everyone her monstrous procedure, saidmade me feel as though they knewwas courteous and comforting.Andy, 90, who lives in Concord. what they were doing, Andy said.When they wheeled me into the Instead of open-heart surgery,It was all very organized. This wascatheterization lab, the thing that Dr. Shahab Moossavi ofa routine that the Hospital clearlyimpressed me right away was Concord Hospital Cardiology, ahad gone through many timesthat I think five people descended department of Concord Hospitalbefore and I felt I was inupon me to get me ready, setting Cardiovascular Institute, insertedgood hands. up equipment, arranging me a new heart valve in a minimallyAndy briefly considered havingproperly, Andy said. It was invasive procedure calledthe procedure in a Boston hospital,obvious they had done this many TAVR, transcatheter aortic valvebut after preliminary testing andtimes. They were well-trained and replacement. The new valuediscussions with Dr. Moossavi, Andyvery efficient in their motions.was threaded into Andys heartknew he was in the right place. But the efficiency did not replace through an artery in his groin andThey exude a certain aura ofthe personal touch.placed over the defective valve.competency, so I concluded I was Instead of a long, painful hospitalperfectly well off staying right hereI didnt feel like a number, I felt stay, Andy spent two days atin Concord, said Andy, a retiredlike I was a human being, he said. Concord Hospital and one in theplant manager, former assistantAndy remembers the skilled nursing unit at Concordsjudge in Vermont and former stateanesthesiologist stood by his head, Havenwood Heritage Heightsrepresentative from Concord. offering a running narration of retirement center, where he lives.Andys TAVR procedure camewhat was happening. Thanks to Then he was back to his routinewithin two weeks of his Emergencythe anesthesia medications, he with virtually no downtime. Department visit. He said hisdoesnt remember a word of what Any anxiety was eased by thecardiologist noted in earlier routinewas being said, but he remembers courtesy, confidence and comfortcheckups that his aortic valvehow it made him feel.Andy found with the Hospital teammight have to be replaced in theIt was very comforting, he said.that cared for him. future, but it had deteriorated more rapidly than expected.'