Brandon Rigney

The author is a 90+ year-old female who had open heart surgery 19 years ago to replace a faulty mitral valve which controls internal heart blood flow. The failing valve was replaced with an artificial valve obtained from a pig, which has a usual life expectancy in a human heart of 8 to 10 years.The story describes events leading up to the diagnosis of a bad valve, the operation and patient's subsequent recovery, and the years following which involve medications and other mechanisms to control the heart. These include the insertion of a second pacemaker, when the first one expired after its 10-year battery life was consumed.The patient's story is complicated by the simultaneous severe illness...