An Important Heart Journey

Travels with Heart by Annie Bowler, April 2, 2026 Vol 33

I haven’t traveled far recently, but have experienced an amazing journey, nonetheless. Read on to learn more...

As some of you may know, I was born with a congenital heart defect, specifically a

bicuspid aortic valve, meaning my aortic valve has two flaps instead of three. I was

unaware of this fact until 17 years ago when I started to have a fib, which are

disorganized electrical signals causing the heart to beat out of rhythm. Unfortunately,

my first cardiologist dismissed my issues and did no tests; he simply

prescribed a medication that calmed my a fib symptoms. For a while, I believed that

nothing was seriously wrong and just took the prescription when I had symptoms.

During the spring of 2012 John and I were training for a strenuous "hut-to-hut" hike high

in the Swiss Alps. We were in fine shape and were incredibly excited for this adventure.

However, the intense hiking triggered more frequent episodes of a-fib, which concerned

me.

Caption This is where I hoped to hike in 2012. Hope to do so one day soon:)

As luck would have it, John and I switched to the UC Davis medical system in the

spring of 2012. When my new GP, Dr. Zhang, learned I had never had a complete

cardiac workup, he insisted on immediate testing. Those tests confirmed I had a

bicuspid aortic valve and revealed a 5.3mm aneurysm on my ascending aortic arch.

Since the surgical protocol for repairing an aortic aneurysm is 5.0 mm, I feel I owe my

life to Dr Zheng and other fine doctors at UC Davis Roseville. Needless to say, we

weren’t going to Switzerland that summer!

Dr .Zhang, UC Davis

As you can probably understand, I was thrown off balance when I heard this news. I

knew very little about heart surgeries, but I knew it was vital to have an excellent surgeon. I needed to wait to have surgery at UC Davis, so we decided to get a second opinion from Dr Castro, a renowned Bay Area Cardiothoracic surgeon. On the way there, John had to slam on the brakes because of a traffic back up. My heart began to ache badly; our daughter Nicole, who was in the backseat, called Dr Castro’s office and we were told to meet him at the hospital. To make a long story short, the aneurysm may have been signaling that it would burst soon thus I spent the night under their close watch and had a successful surgery early that next morning to repair the aneurysm. 

Dr. Castro of Sequoia Hospital

What crazy days those were! I felt very lucky to be alive, yet I kept feeling angry, as well

as frightened for what lay ahead. I had more than a few “why me?" pity parties. Because

my head was in such a tangle and recovering from open heart surgery is difficult under

the best of circumstances, it took me a long while to recover from that first surgery. Poor

John took me back to the hospital too many times due to post-op complications. 

Luckily, my family and friends offered much love and support which helped me to heal.

My friend, Celina, came to my house and led me in safe, gentle yoga and my friend,

Nancy, taught me to meditate. My brain started to accept life's path. In November of

2012, I started managing the Flower Farm Café. My heart troubles became a distant

memory as I got to know many wonderful locals and turned my focus to making

the Cafe an inviting community gathering spot.

Yoga instructor and friend Celina Polina Nancy Belmer has trained people in transcendental Yoga Meditation for many years

My aortic valve was still working well in 2012 but it began to fail in 2023, which required

a second open heart surgery. Dr. Castro replaced my valve with an “Edwards Device";

which is a cage that holds my new aortic valve made of pig tissue. Thankfully

recovery from that surgery went far more smoothly. When my current aortic valve fails,

surgeons will be able to go up through my groin, push the old valve tissue aside, and

put in a new valve twice if its needed. Hopefully, there will be no more open heart

surgeries for me.

This is what my new aortic valve with the frame holding the valve in place looks like and the card I carry, just in case.

Since that surgery, I've been quite healthy, until this December when I started having

tachycardia, dangerously high heart rates of 110 BPM or more, that just wouldn’t quit.

My UC Davis Cardiologist, Dr Southard, prescribed medication and then, when that

wasn’t working, he performed a cardio conversion which shocked my heart back into a

sinus rhythm. That procedure worked for a couple of weeks, but soon, I was back in

tachycardia and was referred to Dr. Srivatra, a UC Davis cardiac electrophysiologist. 

Dr. Southard, UC Davis Dr Srivatra, UC Davis

I was scheduled for an ablation and possible implantation of a wireless pacemaker in

late March. During the procedure, Dr. Srivatra learned my a fib was caused by the

scarring from my previous heart surgeries and that there was a lot of it! Unable to

ablate so many troubled areas, she cauterized the AV Node and implanted a tiny

wireless pacemaker which now sends signals, so my heart beats in a sinus rhythm. 

(Image of pacemaker)*

Pacemaker

Check out this video of AV node and heart beating.

Even though I am still in a fib, I no longer feel or am affected by it. Because of my wireless pacemaker, I will no longer have irregular heart rhythms, my heart rate goes up when I exercise just like a normal heart does, but it will beat no lower than 60 BPM, which was my normal heart rate before I began tachycardia. I am still recovering from this procedure, but I feel amazingly better now that my heart is beating normally! My pacemaker will last about 17 years and can be replaced once it runs out of battery life. They expect within a few months, I will be able to do everything I could before this last heart challenge. I look forward to being back in shape by summer.

If all this sounds like science fiction, it does to me too. My experiences are fine examples of what medical research can accomplish. My quality of life will be so much better because of this pacemaker; it was only approved 6 years ago. I feel like am one very lucky human!

I am grateful to John who has been my most loyal supporter.

This unpredictable heart journey has made to often consider that my life here is finite, and ponder “What is the meaning of life?” and over time, I've clarify my priorities:

• "Live today like it's the first day of your life, like it's the last day of your life, like it's

the only day of your life.” Father Chuck Gallagher.

• Show gratitude and kindness to all others in your life, whether it be the grocery

clerks, family members and friends near and far, or even to those you will never

meet.

• Give yourself some grace when times get tough.

My grandson JT, who will be ten soon put this sticker on my computer. I love kid’s

innocent, wonderful wisdom!

My family's support has been crucial through this entire journey.