[Music]
Mark Morris: I'm Mark Morris, I'm a 20-year old sophomore over at Hilbert College in Hamburg,
New York, suburb of Buffalo.
I have a Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia.
Pretty much, in layman's terms, pulmonary artery.
Diane Morris: He was three days old when he had his first heart surgery.
It was frightening because he's our first child.
He's our only child.
So it wasn't like we knew anybody who had it.
You find the information you need and then you just pretend, you go on like life is normal.
We're kind of stuck in the middle going to a pediatric cardiologist, but he doesn't want
to be there.
He's 20 years old.
Paul Morris: Yeah.
Diane Morris: He wants to be where there's adults.
So there really is a missing link.
Paul Morris: Well, that's actually exactly the reason we're here.
The transition between pediatric care and what we really found is that the adult cardiac
center and the adolescents and the transition program that was all here just fantastic.
Curt J. Daniels, MD: Mark was looking at needing to undergo a procedure for a valve dysfunction.
He had other procedures in Buffalo where the plan was to balloon his valve.
And the concern really by the family was that this would not provide adequate relief for
the problems with his heart and how he was feeling.
Paul Morris: Yeah, we were confused.
People weren't answering questions where we were.
It was really a tough time and all we wanted is to have a plan.
We're sort of crazy that way.
We needed a plan, Dr. Daniels gave us one and everybody else had made it all possible.
Curt J. Daniels, MD: Well, the alternative procedure that we were considering for Mark
was to perform a trans catheter pulmonary valve replacement termed the "Melody valve".
So we set out a three-day plan basically in which he would arrive in Columbus, undergo
studies the following day and we can get a better sense or whether or not he would be
a candidate for this procedure.
Mark Morris: I think today is going to be nerve-wracking part, to figure what's going
to happen.
[Noise]
Diane Morris: Mark's having his very first MRI.
We're really excited about it, because it's going to give us a definitive idea of what's
going on in his heart.
MRI Staff 1: So how are you?
Mark Morris: A little nervous.
MRI Staff 2: Mark, you're ready.
He's going to be with us about 45 minutes to one hour, OK?
Diane Morris: He's just got in.
He's excited.
They're going to give him classic rock music to listen to.
MRI Staff 2: Are you all right?
Mark Morris: Yes.
Diane Morris: They told him, "All you need to do is lay back and relax."
He should be just fine with that.
Mark Morris: [Verbal Noise]
Diane Morris: All right, how was it?
Mark Morris: Stressful.
MRI Staff 2: He did a great job.
Good job.
Diane Morris: Let's get you to the next step.
We'll find dad and just go at Children's.
Mark Morris: I'm going now to deal with the stress.
That's been a...
Hopefully, get something to eat afterwards.
Paul Morris: Follow the blue ribbon.
They wanted to go invasive.
Very fast where we're coming from.
So being able to do an MRI and then doing a stress test and a lot of things right off
the bat is fantastic for us.
Female Speaker: You see Dr. Daniels today?
Diane Morris: Yes.
Stress test and then maybe with them.
Paul Morris?: I'm feeling he wanted an exercise study in general to see how he would do with
an exercise test.
Curt J Daniels, MD: He did not perform well enough to make us comfortable with leaving
his valve alone at this point.
So we're discussing now with him about proceeding with pulmonary valve replacement in the Cath
Lab.
He has narrowing of his pulmonary valve.
And also, leakiness, insufficiency of the valve, that's probably lead to a little bit
of right ventricular enlargement.
You know, Dr.Cribs asks you all the questions.
I'm all updated on everything.
And I think we feel really comfortable with your heart and what's going on.
So tomorrow, he's going to come in for his catheterization.
And we've discussed the procedure with him and they're agreeable to him proceed with.
A cardiac catheterization determine if he is a Melody trans catheter valve replacement
candidate.
Paul Morris: So Mark, all they're waiting for now is Dr. Cheatham to come in.
He'll probably talk to you one last time to make sure you're ready to go.
You're ready to go?
Diane Morris: I know everything that could happen.
Having the best people, you'd minimized that risk but catheterizing alone has the risk
of heart attack, then bleeding.
And he heard all this for the first time yesterday when he was signing his papers.
So if he worries , I worry twice as much for him.
We don't mess around.
We go to the best.
OK.
[Noise]
John P. Cheatham, MD: We'll measure his blood pressure in all the chambers.
We'll measure amount of oxygen in all of his chambers.
He has four chambers and the arteries.
And then, we'll take a movie picture.
We call it an angiogram.
And it will show us exactly where his current problem is.
And then, after we do all that, then there's a series of things we have to do before we're
ready to put the valve in.
Doctor 1: All right, fancy room, lots of monitors, big cameras.
You're going to see him in a few hours.
Diane Morris: We'll see you in few hours.
We'll face time with everybody.
Mark Morris: OK.
Diane Morris: OK?
Mark Morris: OK.
Diane Morris: We'll watch Yankees game tonight.
Mark Morris: All right.
Diane Morris: OK?
Curt J Daniels, MD: He'll be under general anesthesia for the procedure.
And once everything's in place, the number of measurements are done.
There's compliance testing of the valve to see if the valve's going to fit into place.
And once everything has been measured and confirmed, then the Melody valve hopefully
will be placed in the conduit position.
John P. Cheatham, MD: He had a lot of time for the tissue to build up calcium.
So he had large chunks of calcium, too.
Doctor 1: This is the valve, vein segment from the neck vein of a cow.
It's been shaved down and has been sewn inside this stent.
John P. Cheatham, MD: We can put a new tube in a valve inside the hold system that they
have with the catheter.
So we can go right through the middle blood vessel in their leg or their neck blood vessel.
And we can go directly into their deteriorated valve and tube and we can put a brand new
valve inside without open heart surgery.
And they can go home 24 hours.
It's obviously a big advancement for people like Mark.
It's a huge advancement in their life because they were looking at many open heart surgeries
in their lifetime.
Diane Morris: They were able to put two stents in.
They're going to now take pictures and see if they could prepare to put the valve in.
John P. Cheatham, MD: So we had to do a fair amount of work to push all the calcium out
of the way so that we can put the new valve in.
Paul Morris: They say he's got a really nice valve and it's working really great.
John P. Cheatham, MD: Everything looks very good.
He had very little narrowing.
He has essentially no leakiness of the new valve.
Obviously, he's avoided another open heart surgery after this procedure.
[Music]
John P. Cheatham, MD: Yeah, he did very well right now.
Paul Morris: A big relief that everything worked out and that Dr. Cheatham has been
fantastic.
He's got a better blood flow.
He'll feel better.
So we're just excited about everything.
Diane Morris: He'd be a normal college student.
Paul Morris: Yeah.
So we just want to say thanks to everyone.
[Music]
Mark Morris: Today, I'm getting discharged.
Being able to go back to Buffalo, get back to living a normal life, like go back to school
tomorrow.
I go back with just my regular cardiologist in Buffalo in about a month to check the leg
area; and then, come back here to Columbus to do follow-up procedures within the next
six months and to a year.
Diane Morris: Just everyone, it doesn't matter who you spoke to, whether it's the head of
the department to the wonderful woman right down the cafeteria who wanted to give me a
hug.
I mean, it's just so sweet.
The place has just exceeded any expectations anyone could have ever had.
Dr. Daniels and Dr. Cheatam are incredible.
You'd think that he had taken care of Mark from the day he was born.
[Music]