Guide wire apparatuses and methods

A method comprising:

• passing a guide wire into an atrium of a patient's heart, the guide wire including an elongate wire and a distal tip coupled to the elongate wire;
• expanding the distal tip of the guide wire from an undeployed configuration to a deployed configuration in which the distal tip expands radially outward from the elongate wire in two radial dimensions of the elongate wire;
• passing the distal tip of the guide wire in the deployed configuration through an annulus of a native valve of the patient's heart;
• deflecting the elongate wire by contacting the distal tip of the guide wire in the deployed configuration against adjacent chordae tendineae of a ventricle of the patient's heart, the distal tip in the deployed configuration having a thickness in the two radial dimensions that is greater than a size of an opening between the adjacent chordae tendineae that are contacted such that the distal tip does not pass through the opening;
• passing a delivery apparatus retaining a device along the guide wire;
• and
• deploying the device to the native valve from the delivery apparatus.