Thursday, April 2, 2009

Open heart surgery and me






Ok....so, Yesterday at the cardiologist, I really didnt hear what I wanted to hear about my heart. He has been tracking it for about 4 years, due to an aortic stenosis.

Yesterday his first words were "well, you need to start getting mentally prepared, because we are looking at surgery in a matter of months."


WOW!


Seriously...how do you "mentally prepare" for having someone saw your chest open, break your rib cage and play with your heart?? I havent figured out quite how to do that, but will let you know when I do.


I was born with a Bicuspid aortic valve. This means that the little flap that pumps oxegenated blood from my heart into the rest of my body. I have two problems with said valve:


regurgitation: The valve(s) does not close completely, causing the blood to flow backward instead of forward through the valve.


stenosis: The valve(s) opening becomes narrowed or valves become damaged or scarred (stiff), inhibiting the flow of blood out of the ventricles or atria. The heart is forced to pump blood with increased force in order to move blood through the narrowed or stiff (stenotic) valve(s).


So, here is some information on why and all that stuff, for those of you who have asked what it is and why i got it. Basically, there is NOTHING that I could have done to prevent it, keep it at bay, or to prevent surgery....it moves at it's own pace and when it's ready, it's ready. Mine is almost ready.


This is from wikipedia and has a link to bicuspid aortic valves.


Major causes and predisposing conditions of aortic stenosis include acute rheumatic fever and bicuspid aortic valve. As individuals age, calcification of the aortic valve may occur and result in stenosis. This is especially likely to occur in people with a bicuspid aortic valve, but also occurs in the setting of perfectly normal valves as a result of age-induced 'wear and tear'. Typically, aortic stenosis due to calcification of a bicuspid valve occurs in the 4th or 5th decade of life, whereas that due to calcification of a normal valve tends to occur later - around the 7th or 8th decade.


This is a link to mayo clinic and its really easy to understand and stuff. http://mayoclinic.com/health/aortic-valve-stenosis/DS00418