The news.

How many of you have life insurance? It is the only thing you ever buy and hope you never use. But, as a guy who was bringing his first child into the world in a few months I wanted to do what was right...just in case. To me, it was just one more task I had to do before Max made his debut; really no different than painting his room.

The initial meeting with the agent at Northwest Mutual made it sound like it was just a formality. "Here's how much money you 'll get in 3o years...blah, blah, blah." Well, eight vials of blood....green light. 50 line questionnaire...green light. One Dixie cup of urine...green light. Two physicals with 2 different doctors who spoke broken English...green light. EKG while lying on the couch in my living room...green light. So I'm thinking, "OK, we're done here. Where do I sign?" "Well, Mr. Salvati, since you have a heart murmur, we'd like you to take one more test." "OK, what do you need to poke, prod, draw or monitor?" "Its a simple test...and echocardiogram (echo). It takes about 15 minutes.

The next day I arrive 5 minutes early for my appointment. Dr. Green at the Stamford Heart Associates has me lie down on the wax paper covering the table. Now this is an aside, but can someone tell me, with as much as medicine and technology have advanced over the years...have we still not come up with a better solution for sanitation in a Dr. office than the paper covering the table?

So, I'm sitting there, shirt off and we start the exam. I'm lying down on my back and Dr. Green takes a the "wand" and after applying some lubricating gel he applies the wand to my chest. A picture comes up in black and white on the screen and the Dr. begins pointing out parts of my heart. So now I'm thinking, "Cool. Give me the rubber stamp, Doc so I get back to work." But then he pauses in one area for a moment. Then, he flips a switch on the machine. The black and white switch to vivid colors. "The color is where your blood is moving. The brighter the color the more volume and thrust of the blood." So I'm seeing the colors and glancing at my watch. "So everything looks ok, Dr.?"

"Well, there are a couple of things that concern me."

Note to self. If I ever become a doctor, remove the word "concern" from my bedside vocabulary.

"Can you be more specific, Dr. Green" I ask. "Well, if you look at the bright colors, the whites, orange and reds, that's your blood." "And?" "Its going the wrong direction in your heart. The blood is traveling from your left atrium through your mitral valve and into your left ventricle. The problem is that that blood is regurgitating back into the left atrium. The result is that your heart is working not working efficiently. You have severe mitral valve regurgitation, Mr. Salvati. Your heart is growing and if we don't address this soon you'll be at in increased risk for heart attack, stroke or (my personal favorite) SUDDEN DEATH.

How do you digest this?

Denial: The Dr. doesn't know what he's talking about.

Fear: Never thought I would be checking mortality rates at 34.

Anger: Why me?

Acceptance: OK, let's find the best place and the best surgeon.

11 days to surgery