I've known about my abnormal heart valve all my life. When I was a child, the pediatrician told my parents I had a "functional heart murmur," but assured them the condition would not interfere with normal activities and was nothing to worry about.  

Indeed, I've always been active and healthy -- I danced throughout my school years, started jogging in my 20s, began practicing yoga after college, and earned a second degree black belt in my 40s.

I've had regular echo-cardiograms to monitor my heart valve since this technology first came on the scene in the mid-1970s. Through this painless test, which uses ultrasound to image the heart, cardiologists determined that my murmur resulted from a bicuspid aortic valve, one of the most common congenital valvular abnormalities. Instead of having the normal three leaflets, my valve had just two.

Carol KrucoffI was told that someday I might need surgery to repair or replace this valve since, over time, the opening often narrows.  

At my annual "echo" in early 2007, I learned that -- although I'd continued to be extremely active with no symptoms -- my valve had narrowed into the "serious" range, and the "jetting" effect of blood flow from the narrowed valve had created a weakness in the aorta. 

I was sent for a cardiac MRI that showed  I had an asymptomatic  aortic aneurysm that would also need to be repaired. I was told I would need open-heart surgery to replace the valve and repair the aneurysm, probably within the next few years. When I returned for an "echo" six months later, the situation had deteriorated to the point where surgery was advised "sooner" rather than later, and we set a date just after New Years in 2008 -- six weeks before my 54th birthday.

During that difficult waiting period, volunteers who had experienced open heart surgery were extremely generous with their support. As a yoga therapist at Duke Integrative Medicine, I'd often helped others deal with the stress of a serious health condition through relaxation breathing practices and appropriate yoga postures -- and found those tools extremely helpful as I prepared physically, emotionally and spiritually for surgery. 

My colleagues at Duke Integrative Medicine helped further with varied complementary techniques including mindfulness-based stress reduction, hypnosis and massage. The physicians and staff at Duke were extremely supportive of my "yogic" approach, allowing me to listen to relaxing music on my iPod as I went through heart catheterization and into surgery and through recovery. 

As one of my friends from Mended Hearts told me, "It's no picnic, but you'll get through it fine." And I did -- with the tremendous support of my family and friends, the terrific staff at Duke Heart Center and the incredible cardiac rehabilitation team at Duke's Center for Living.

I started teaching yoga again in March and co-directed a Yoga Teacher Training Program at Duke Integrative Medicine in April.  By the summer I was back to regular three-mile "power walks" at a 15-minute mile pace, and I've resumed my full yoga practice. I continue to have regular echos for my new bovine valve, and with a new, stronger aorta I'm so grateful to have my heart and my health back through the hands of the caring, supportive staff at Duke Medicine.