About Me

My name is Bob and I am a climber and English teacher living in Denver Colorado.  I am originally from Pennsylvania, but made the transition to Colorado in 2013 to be in the mountains.
Climbing The Incredible Hulk in the Eastern Sierra, CA.
I am usually pretty active: rock climbing 2-3 times a week and nearly every weekend.  Although I live in the city, I spend as much time as possible camping in beautiful natural areas.  Being in the woods is the way I stay sane and happy.
Climbing in the winter near Long's Peak, CO

In 2016, I received a new Aortic Valve and Aortic Stem.  This was a surgical procedure was looming over me since birth, and I have been lucky enough to be able to put it off for 27 years.  I got this fancy new hardware on June 1, 2016.  This process went smoother than I could have ever imagined due to my preparation, pre-surgery knowledge and research, and the amazing support team I am surrounded with. 

Since surgery, I have continued climbing.  In 2019, I spent 3 days climbing "The Nose" route of El Capitan.  I have also climbed Mt. Rainier in Washington, both before and after surgery, as well as many other rock and alpine adventures.


I love sharing my experience and knowledge, so please feel free to reach out.



Contact Information:
Email: AorticAdventure@gmail.com
Instagram: @Aortic_Adventure





Popular posts from this blog

Mentally Preparing for Surgery

Image
A ny surgery can cause distress.     We often worry about how our bodies will be altered and how comparably they will function after an operation. Recovery times may also cause us to worry about what we will do with our downtime and how we will stay sane during a time when we might not be able to do the activities that make us happy. For the past decade, I have been an avid rock climber with such a strong passion for my sport that it drives every life decision I make. During that decade, I have also had 3 major surgeries including a heart surgery and one ACL replacement (I had 2 other ACLs replaced in the previous decade). The thing that both of these procedures had in common was that they took me away from my passion and forced me to see who I am when I can’t be who I have been.     My heart surgery required 5 weeks of heavy restriction followed by another year of building back to my pre-surgery abilities. My ACL had a very similar timeline, which I am just finishin...
Read more
Image
My Heart History When I was born, there was a complication.  My Aorta valve, the one responsible for pumping oxygenated blood from my heart into my body, was too narrow.  In fact, it was so narrow that I needed an emergency surgery to keep me alive.  Luckily, doctors knew what to do.  They placed a flexible tube into my femoral artery, traced it all of he way to my heart, stuck a balloon into the narrow valve, inflated the balloon, and widened the narrowing enough to keep me alive.  This is called a  Balloon Valvuloplasty .  One cannot make this kind of thing up. This emergency surgery was meant to last me until I was fully grown, at which point I would need my Aortic Valve replaced. So I waited.  I had yearly check-ups until I was 18, the point when docs said I would need a replacement valve.  18 years old came and went and the doctors decided that 21 was my new goal.  I made it to 21 years of age with no issue so we decided to...
Read more

My New Valve (video)

Image
As soon as I woke up from surgery, my girlfriend Marisa excitedly informed me that my surgeon had dropped off a DVD.  On this DVD, there were 5 different short videos taken during my surgery.  Of course, I was also interested in seeing my surgery as soon as possible.   This first video is my old Aortic Valve.  The white, fleshy part seen here should be three crisp cusps that come seamlessly together to allow blood to flow in one direction and then shut to prevent regurgitation back into my Left Ventricle.  As you can see in this video, my valve is anything but "crisp" and definitely does not have a "seamless" function.  Basically, this valve was restricting the amount of blood flowing out of my heart while also allowing blood to flow in the wrong direction with each beat.  The next video is my favorite!  After removing my old Aortic Valve and Ascending Aorta, Dr. Miller then sewed on the new hardware. The white tube sewed to my hear...
Read more