A Walk in the Park: Valve Replacement Surgery Puts Bank President Back on His Feet

    Fourteen years ago, lifelong Ashland resident Andrew Jones was diagnosed with a leaky aortic valve. He was referred to a Lexington hospital for valve replacement, as King’s Daughters did not yet have the capability to do the procedure.

    Jones’s Lexington surgeon told him to expect the replacement valve to last 20 years. “At that time, I was only 40 years old and 20 years seemed like way, way, out in the future,” Jones said. “I thought maybe I’ll never have to do it.”

    In 2018, Jones began experiencing shortness of breath. “I started feeling more tired than usual,” he recalls. “But I was extremely active so I thought, I’m just tired. The more it went on, the worse it got. I got to the point that I could hardly stay awake during the day. I’d sit down at my desk and I felt like I needed to doze off.”

    At night, his shortness of breath became worse, making it difficult to sleep, even frightening. He would awake, startled and wondering what had happened. Jones went to see his cardiologist, who returned the verdict: his porcine replacement valve had finally given out. “It was destroyed,” the doctor told him. He would have to have surgery.

    Jones was both relieved and apprehensive. Now he knew what the problem was, and that it could be fixed. But there was something else, too. “It’s a little sense of dread to think about going through heart surgery again. Heart surgery isn’t a terribly hard experience. But of course it’s not a walk in the park either,” Jones said.

    He received advice from friends and family, all of whom seemed to have a different opinion about where he should go for surgery. Some advocated for a return to Lexington. Some advocated for King’s Daughters. “But I knew from the beginning that if I had to have it done, and if it was an alternative, I wanted to do it here, amongst my family and my friends,” Jones said.

    After meeting with King’s Daughters cardiothoracic surgeon Eric Bronstein, M.D., Jones decided. He asked Dr. Bronstein a lot of questions about valve surgery, second surgeries, his experience and his outcomes. Jones learned Dr. Bronstein had performed more than 800 valve replacement/repair procedures during his 20-year career. “That just gave me a great feeling about him. He’s very confident, which made me very much at ease. I knew he was my guy.”

    On Sept. 25, 2018, Dr. Bronstein replaced Jones’s destroyed aortic valve with a new mechanical valve. Jones was discharged just a few days later, and took a celebratory lap around Central Park. “It was a beautiful day and I went for a walk around the park just like nothing had happened. I was back on my feet.”

    As for his choice of King’s Daughters over Lexington, Jones couldn’t be happier. He knew King’s Daughters and many of the people involved in his care. Everyone made him feel like he was part of their family and that he would be well cared for. He remembers waking up after the surgery and seeing many familiar faces. Family. Friends. Physicians he knew. “It was very comforting that all these folks were surrounding me and lifting me up.”

    Today, Jones is back to living life the way it was meant to be. His shortness of breath, sleepiness and fatigue all disappeared with the surgery. He’s back to his demanding job as Northeast Region President at Community Trust Bank. He looks forward to boating at Cave Run Lake, golfing and basically living an active life with his wife, Donna, and his two adult sons.

    But the entire experience has given him a new appreciation for the things that are right here in Ashland; for Dr. Bronstein and the excellent care he provided. “We are very lucky to have him in a small town like Ashland. Sometimes great people don’t get the recognition like a great athlete gets. But if Dr. Bronstein were an athlete, he would be on the front page of the sports section every week because he’s just a great physician.”