Hi Terijo,

You should be able to contact the device makers (Amplatzer, etc) and ask them to
recommend a surgeon who is experienced with their device. I went to the
Pediatric Cardiology department at the University of Michigan and saw Dr.
Rocchini. He has done several hundred of these procedures. You definitely want
someone who had done more than just a couple. There are likely a couple of
people in Texas that have done a number of these procedures, it will just
require you to find them.

Good luck,

Mark



--- On Mon, 8/4/08, Terijo Brewton <terijo@...> wrote:

> From: Terijo Brewton <terijo@...>
> Subject: Re: [PFOSupport] Need to understand PFO and best treatments for!
> To: PFOSupport@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Monday, August 4, 2008, 3:43 PM
> It is a nickel mesh, I know that much and I was leery for
> that reason
> alone.
>
> Thank you so much for responding; I think the doctor's
> don't regularly test
> for allergies. We have an appointment with a guy who has
> one abour 20 of
> these which doesn't seem like very many. I'd
> rather travel to someone who
> knows everything and maybe is familiar with various
> devices, not just one.
>
> You know what I mean?
>
> I understand that this procedure is replacing open heart
> surgery - it seems
> like it is the device or lifetime blood thinners. He got
> clouted with a
> ball last night in softball practice (um.. frequent enough
> occurrence) and
> it raised a large bump - something it would not have done
> earlier.
>
> Thanks so much for your response! Terijo