I
have a broken heart -- you might think I’m using this as a metaphor for the
emotional state of feeling very sad or deeply hurt -- as in “I’m heart-broken because ….”
And you
might be wondering if I’m going to give advice for the love lorn – but no - I’m
not going into competition with Dear Abby.
It is
literally true – I have a broken heart – or to be more medically correct I have
severe aortic valve stenosis.
For several years I have canvassed door to door
in my neighborhood in February. It is ironic that this year I said I couldn't because I planned to be away all month.
Instead I’m at home waiting for surgery
– and if I had said I would canvas I would have had to back out
This series
of blog posts will be a record of the steps that I followed to fix my broken
heart starting with …
Step
1:
Find
out it's broken (diagnosis).
Maybe
something’s wrong? In my case it was almost accidental – I was
in emergency (just before Christmas) because of a cough. I mentioned that I had
some minor indigestion-like “burning” pain in the right side of my chest. (I
actually thought it was likely a pulled muscle from coughing). Tests showed I was NOT having
a heart attack and everything looked OK.
Doctor
scheduled stress test to follow-up.
Nah – it’s just indigestion! I was fairly confident that it wasn't my heart
– although I had been noticing for a month or so that I would get this
“burning” (right side of upper chest and that’s not your heart – right!!) and
be mildly out-of-breath when walking briskly for a relatively short period but
I had “compensated” by just backing off and walking a little slower.
OK-
something’s wrong but what? Morning of stress test (January 4) I drove myself to hospital for the test and I
“failed” ( mild pain, minor shortness of
breath but “wacky ECG” resulted in
terminating the stress test.
Time for a conference with God!! I have a deep and abiding faith in
God – my “Abba” Father and I often find myself in conversation with him,
Sometimes thanking, sometimes asking and always listening in my heart
(metaphorical sense) for his guidance and answers. Sometimes more frequently than others – and especially
when things are going well I may not be as grateful as I should be. When I
heard the Doctor say “There’s a problem – we need more tests – prayer
was immediate and while hopefully not “demanding” I was pretty clear that I was
trusting Him to make this “go away” – Well I learned that for now his answer is “my grace is
sufficient..” (2 Cor. 12:9)
Maybe it’s clogged
arteries? -- Doctor was able to schedule me into his
angiogram clinic that morning – which caused a bit of frantic activity for
Linda to get a ride so she could be there for the procedure.
Doctor was pretty sure there’d be serious blockages
and he was preparing me for needing to have that treated.
Nope
– plumbing is clear – Now what? The angiogram showed arteries were clear but doc couldn't get the catheter to
“thread” into left ventricle which suggested problem with aortic valve
(stenosis)
As
part of the angiogram the catheter is “threaded” into the artery (from my wrist
– sometimes from groin) and up through the aorta and into the left ventricle
through the aortic valve where the dye is released to allow the cardiologist to
see the shape and size of the left ventricle.
When the cardiologist was unable to do this despite trying several
larger (stiffer) catheters he strongly
suspected a serious “narrowing” of the valve
Waiting isn’t my strong suit: The
doctor says he needs echocardiogram
to confirm and they’ll call in 3 to 4 weeks to set it up. So we come home from
the hospital to wait.
First thing is to let our family and church
family know. It is good to know that many will be praying for a speedy test
(and maybe a less serious diagnosis).
Next thing
is Research – What is it and what are the treatment options?
Aortic valve stenosis? —
or aortic stenosis — occurs when the heart's aortic valve narrows. This
narrowing prevents the valve from opening fully, which obstructs blood flow
from your heart into your aorta and onward to the rest of your body.
There are
many sources that can be found describing this disease and its’ treatment by
searching for Aortic valve stenosis.
This one by Mayo Clinic seems to be one of the better ones.
Treatment
is surgery!! Most frequently Open Heart Surgery where the chest
is opened by cutting through the breast bone (sternotomy).
There are
other less invasive surgeries but they seem to be less well established and I
begin to prepare myself for the sternotomy.
Now I know lots of people who have
had this surgery for “bypasses” and I tell myself this is not as complex because they don’t remove
the vein from the leg to graft into the
heart – they “simply” replace the valve.
I also learn there are two options for the "new" valve - “mechanical” and tissue both with
advantages and disadvantages – more on that later.
I start
telling people what I've found out – and soon Linda is saying “ You've read so
much – next thing you’ll be picking up a scalpel and doing the surgery
yourself.
Yeah right – NOT!! I would likely faint at the first sign of blood!!
A new diet In addition, Linda wants to be sure that my diet is the best possible to be prepared for
surgery if it comes.
So we consult with a nutritionist - Tammy at the Country
Way who suggests a high alkaline diet.
Now I’m a little skeptical of the underlying science – and we aren't going the route of checking pH
balance. However adhering to a healthy diet plan that keeps us away from
processed foods, sugar and meat seems like a reasonable thing to try for at
least a month or so prior to surgery (if it comes to that).
I’ll warn
you that doing this is not for the faint of “wallet” – the supplements and vitamins
recommended are way beyond anything that our budget could sustain in the long
run – however we have been blessed with the resources (money!!) that will allow
us to do this for 6 to 8 weeks.
I’ll post a
separate item on the diet plan – for now suffice it to say it’s almost a
full-time job that fills our day trying to keep on top of it J
Throughout
this waiting time I am operating on the “hope for the best- prepare for the
worst” philosophy and I’m working on getting our finances in order – updating
our records and preparing a “DRAFT” 2013 budget.
Praying: Linda & I talk about the “what if’s” and we continue in
prayer.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (ESV) says
“ pray
without ceasing” and I’m probably closer to this
being a literal fact than ever before in
my life.
We were geared up for waiting and were pleasantly surprised when the Doctor’s office called within a week and scheduled the echocardiogram for January 19 and a visit with the Doctor on February 5 to get the results
Yep
–it’s a bad valve: January
19 the echocardiogram confirmed that I have severe
stenosis and that the valve needs to be replaced.
I’ll pick
up here next time.
God Bless
Charlie
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