Works Cited

1. Dad and I at home on Halloween. Personal Photograph by Kirsten Edmonds. 31 October 2004
2. "A Normal Heart and a Heart With Aortic Stenosis." mayoclinic.org. Web. .
3. The Goo Goo Dolls. “Before It’s Too Late.” Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 – The Singles. Warner Bros. Records. 2007.
4. “Aortic Stenosis.” ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Web. 07 May 2010.
5. “Aortic Valve Replacement.” watchespool.com. Web. 2009.
6. “Echocardiograms.” webmd.com. Web. 15 Nov 2010.
7. “Aortic Stenosis Echo.” ispub.com. Web. 13 Feb 2009.
8. Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Aortic Valve Stenosis - MayoClinic.com." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Information and Research, 24 Sept. 2009. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.
9. "Valve Diseases." Gilmanheartvalve.us. The Howard Gilman Institute for Heart Valve Disease. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.
10. Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Aortic Valve Stenosis: Complications - MayoClinic.com." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 4 Sept. 2009. Web. 17 Mar. 2011. .
11. "Logo." mayoclinic.com. Web. 24 Sept 2009.
12. "Aortic Stenosis-Adult Photos - Aortic Stenosis-Adult Picture Gallery - ThirdAge." Baby Boomer Health, Aging & Retirement | Midlife Caregiving & Relationships | ThirdAge.com. Third Age Media, LLC, 2011. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
13. "aortic stenosis." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
14. "Experts Develop New Aortic Stenosis Treatment | SSSST.Com World News." SSSST.Com World News | Source of Latest and Breaking News around the World. SSSST.Com World News, 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.
15. Ciuffo, Dr. Giovanni. "Aortic Stenosis - Progression From Mild, To Moderate, To Severe Disease."Heart Valve Surgery Book For Patients & Caregivers. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.
16. Spiegel, Kevin M. "Morbidity/Mortality." Surgery.com. 24 Nov. 2009. Web. 28 Mar. 2011.
17. "Aortic Stenosis - Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment of Aortic Stenosis - NY Times Health Information." Health News - The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 May 2009. Web. 28 Mar. 2011.
18. Mom and Dad in Florida. Personal Photgraphy by Jan Edmonds
19. Sarah's Tattoo for Dad. Personal Photograph by Sarah Jonjock. 21 Feb 2011.

Reflection Paragraph on Sources

Sources are probably the most important components to your blog. They provide all the information in your blog and it is essential that they are credible. I feel that I had a successful time finding my sources. Most of them were from medical websites that were very in depth and resourceful. The source that I thought that was most useful was Mayo Clinic. The article they had on Aortic Stenosis was excellent and it provided so much information that benefited my blog. You will definitely see a lot from Mayo Clinic on my blog. I highly suggest this website to anyone whose topic is health related. The sources that I thought were most bias were the news websites I researched. The New York Times did not seem bias, but some other sites like Fox News were very biased.

Reflection Paragraph on Process

Well this journey is almost over... And I couldn't be more satisfied with the work I accomplished. When I first started this blog project, I did not know how much I could find on Aortic Stenosis and I was very afraid that I wouldn't be able to find enough information to support my topic. In my opinion, my blog was not all that hard. I think that self-determination and confidence in your blog is your drive to get your work done. It was challenging at times where I had to formulate quality posts and I definitely had to think about each of my posts before I posted them. I enjoyed designing my blog to my liking the most. I think that the look of your blog plays an important role in keeping people interested. I customized everything on my blog from the background to the logo. I did not really dislike anything in particular, but I thought the finding paragraphs were a bit challenging. If I were to do this project again, I would not choose to do anything differently. I am very proud of the work I did and I feel like I have done it to the best of my ability.

Wordle #2 Based on Topic Key Terms

This is my second Wordle based on the key terms of my blog. How I determined my key terms was look at my blog posts and look for reoccurring words or words that were significant to me. These words may help people to understand my blog better or get a gist of my topic, Aortic Stenosis.

Reflection Paragraph on Findings

When I was formulating my three finding paragraphs, I realized that I had found so much valuable information about Aortic Stenosis and the essential questions I associated with the disease. I feel that the three most important pieces of information I gathered from this project so far is as follows: Not every person's Aortic Stenosis is necessarily the same as everyone else's, though treatment may fix the patient's problem temporarily, there are many hazardous complications that can be faced by patients, and that Aortic Stenosis is inevitable; The disease is not discriminative of age, race, or sex. To me, knowing that this disease was not preventable surprised me most. I figured every disease had a way around it, but I realized that that's not the case at all. I never really researched that about Aortic Stenosis and it truly shocked me. I have absolutely no further questions about my topic. I am proud of my research. I am very confident about my topic and understand it way better now that I had the opportunity to research it. 

Finding Paragraph #3

How can Aortic Stenosis be prevented? Taking initiative for your health is essential for this disease. There are no ways in preventing Aortic Stenosis, but some of the complications of this disease can be prevented. Treating rheumatic fever properly is one of the only ways in lowering your risk in contracting Aortic Stenosis. Luckily, this can be treated with antibiotics. The other way to minimize your risks in getting Aortic Stenosis is to be aware of the risk factors of coronary heart disease. These include, but are not limited to: high blood pressure, obesity, and high cholesterol levels. These factors have been proven to be related to Aortic Stenosis. (Mayo Clinic Researchers) You can treat rheumatic fever by treating strep throat infections properly, since strep throat can result in rheumatic fever (inflammation of the joints and damage to the heart valves). (New York Times Health) There are two different valve procedures shown in a picture on my blog. It demonstrates a small part of the procedure being done as well. One procedure is called the St. Jude valve, which is an artificial mechanical valve. It looks almost exactly like a regular aortic valve. The other mechanical valve shown in the diagram is the porcine valve, which looks more like a cleared passageway rather than an aortic valve. (Third Age) Since Aortic Stenosis is an inescapable disease, it is important that you take action for your health.

1. Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Aortic Valve Stenosis: Complications - MayoClinic.com." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 4 Sept. 2009. Web. 17 Mar. 2011

2. "Aortic Stenosis - Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment of Aortic Stenosis - NY Times Health Information." Health News - The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 May 2009. Web. 28 Mar. 2011.

3. "Aortic Stenosis-Adult Photos - Aortic Stenosis-Adult Picture Gallery - ThirdAge." Baby Boomer Health, Aging & Retirement | Midlife Caregiving & Relationships | ThirdAge.com. Third Age Media, LLC, 2011. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.

Finding Paragraph #2

How many people have been victims of this disease? Does treatment lower the death rate of patients who suffer from Aortic Stenosis? Aortic Stenosis is an extremely personal and at times unexpected heart disease. To be honest, there is a varying amount of total fatalities each year because of the unanticipated number of deaths. I have accumulated a study that show that treatment lowers the death rate of Aortic Stenosis, and one that conveys that treatment is not really a sigh of relief to patients. The first study conducted was in New England. They tested three-hundred and fifty eight patients with Aortic Stenosis. Half of the patients were treated with a new valve process, and the other half was just treated with a valve-widening process. One year after the treatments, the fatality rate for the people treated with the new valve process was 30.7%, whereas the people who were not treated with it had a death rate of 50.7%. The study showed that patients that were properly treated lowered the death rate of all sufferers of Aortic Stenosis. (SSSST) The second study shows that there is a 3-5% mortality rate for people that treated Aortic Stenosis. Evidently, there is only a five year prognosis for 85% of patients after being treated with and aortic valve replacement. As a result of the replacement, many problems such as bleeding complications occur; this can result in fatality. After reading this article, it is correct that even having Aortic Stenosis treated does not necessarily lower the death rate, since there are so many complications associated with the prosthesis. (Surgery) There is also a picture that shows a comparison between a regular heart and a heart affected by Aortic Stenosis. In the picture, the heart affected with this disease has a lot of factors that put stress on it (i.e. extra tissue and a severely narrowed passageway) which puts the patient at risk and could account for the victims of this disease that were not treated. (SSSST)

1. "Experts Develop New Aortic Stenosis Treatment | SSSST.Com World News." SSSST.Net World News | Source of Latest and Breaking News around the World. SSSST.Net World News, 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 21 Mar. 2011

2. Spiegel, Kevin M. "Morbidity/Mortality." Surgery.com. 24 Nov. 2009. Web. 28 Mar. 2011.

3. "Experts Develop New Aortic Stenosis Treatment | SSSST.Com World News."SSSST.Com World News | Source of Latest and Breaking News around the World. SSSST.Com World News, 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.