Oh, the Torture!

I'm amazed that I had open heart surgery almost two weeks ago, and I'm feeling pretty good.

RobbieMax got a new computer yesterday. It's a really nice laptop, and the best thing about it is that it will support the ipod software we have! Did I tell y'all that he got me an ipod for Mother's Day? Well, he did but our computer was too old to support the software. So I haven't been able to use it yet.
Another nice thing about this computer is that it's got a high def widescreen computer screen and that's really cool.

Okay - so I decided to write about something that's particularly torturous for me today. Itching. Yep, you read that correctly - itching. My incisions are healing, and that means they itch. I can't scratch them. It's like I'm standing in a choir concert and I have the most horrible itch on my nose but I can't scratch it (and any of you who were ever in choir in high school or college know this sometimes inhumane rule).

So anyways, I itch. I hate it when I can't scratch an itch. I don't want to scratch anything open, so I've just been trying to ignore it. But it's been difficult.

On another note, I slept really well last night. I fell asleep on the futon around 10 and RobbieMax woke me up to head to bed at about 12. Then I took my painkillers, brushed my teeth, and swished and swollowed that icky medicine (that's done tomorrow - hooray!), and went to bed. I woke up a few times, but slept until 7:48 this morning. This is the latest I've been able to sleep since I had this surgery! And I am NOT a morning person, so the later I'm able to sleep the happier I am.

Well, I can't really think of anything else to write, so I'm going to sign off. Have a great night everyone!

Sleeping with the Enemy

I can't believe that I had my surgery 11 days ago!

I wasn't going to post today, but I felt like doing it tonight, so here I am.

I slept pretty well in my own bed last night! I woke up a couple of times to change positions, and the last time I was in quite a bit of pain. Then when I woke up this morning, I was in even more pain. Pain is my enemy. I hate it. I have a very low pain tolerance. (Big baby, remember?) But I'm sleeping with it. Pain - the enemy.

But guess what?! I won't have to sleep with the enemy tonight! I got a new prescription for painkillers! I only had 3 left so I was trying to conserve and not take two last night. But now I don't have to! I can take two tonight and hopefully I'll sleep even better.

I'm doing okay with alternating between Tylenol and Motrin during the day, so don't need anything stronger than that.

I hope that the people I'm about to talk about don't mind, but I need to tell y'all something really cool. It seems that more than 3 people are reading my blog! (Can you believe it?!) I received a couple of emails - one from Cynthia in LA and one from Mary Jo in Kentucky. It seems that heart issues have touched both of their lives in some way and my blog has been helping them.

Cynthia and Mary Jo- I'm so glad that I have been able to help you by sharing my experiences. Thank you so much for contacting me. (And Cynthia knows Ellen Degeneres's brother so I'll be expecting an introduction at some point. Maybe she can speed along the response to my email...)

Seriously, you two - if there's anything I've learned from this, it's that things happen for a reason, and that they will turn out fine. And try not to stress out too much about things. I wish I hadn't stressed myself out so much. It really wasn't as bad as I had expected or anticipated.

Take care and know that I am thinking about you. Keep in touch and keep reading my blog!

It Hurts to Laugh

I am 10 days post-open heart surgery.

Yesterday turned out to be a better day than expected. I alternated taking Motrin with Tylenol and let me tell you - those two little orange Motrin did more for my back and shoulder pain than a whole week of prescription painkillers did. Hooray!

I removed one of the three pillows I have been sleeping on last night and slept better than I have since before surgery. I'm going to try sleeping in my own bed tonight!

I can live with those other annoyances. I had surgery done by the best surgeon in the world and my quality of life is going to improve. I need to keep focusing on that.

Okay. Now to the topic at hand.

I am a HUGE Ellen Degeneres fan. I think she is completely hilarious. As you all know, I am an editor and work full-time, so I don't get a chance to watch her show. I've been looking forward to watching it during my convalescence (I LOVE that word). So I turned it on last week and started to watch it. The show was a repeat - her President's Day show (I didn't mind - I haven't seen it before). But after the beginning bit, I was laughing so hard I had to turn the channel. It hurt way too much to laugh!

So that's been one big disappointment for me - the fact that I can't watch Ellen, and laugh. (BTW, I did email Ellen about this. I wonder if I'll hear anything back...)

Other things it hurts too much to do:

• Yawn - I can't take a deep breath yet and yawning kills me. I try to stifle them, but have only succeeded in straining my neck muscles.
• Bend forward - that puts too much pressure on my chest.
• Cough - I am supposed to hold my heart pillow against my chest and cough periodically to keep pneumonia from developing. What's a heart pillow, you wonder? Well, it's my red, heart-shaped pillow that I received at the hospital for just this purpose. It's firmer than normal pillows and provides great support for my sternum when I cough.
• Shower - well, actually I can shower, but it takes FOREVER, and I hate it.
• Sneeze - I haven't had to sneeze yet, but I've heard that it hurts like crazy. I am not looking forward to sneezing for the 1st time.

I have laughed since last week. But each time I've had to press my heart pillow to my chest, because otherwise it does hurt way too much.

I can't wait to laugh again...

Oh, and remember those scabs that kept on scratching my chin? Well, they fell off yesterday so that problem has been solved.

I'll talk to y'all later!

Post-Surgery Complaints

I can't believe that I had open heart surgery a week and two days ago.

I've been absent from my blog. I'm sorry, friends. I've had a rough 4 days. It's still very good to be home. I'm still very happy to be here.

But what sucks is that I'm still in quite a bit of pain. In my chest. In my shoulders. In my back. Why are my shoulders and back giving me trouble, you ask? Well, because in surgery after they cut the sternum open and spread it, your shoulder blades are basically parallel for the duration of the surgery. This does some screwing around with your muscles. Ouch.

So the pain has been sucking. Big time. And I only have 6 of my prescription painkillers left. These I need to save for nighttime, because all of this pain is REALLY hard to sleep with or through. I have not been sleeping very well and have yet to sleep in my own bed. I've been sleeping on the futon (unopened) in the basement with my back against the back of the futon, propped up on pillows laying kind of on my side. Not very comfortable.

So today I shall alternate Tylenol (which does nothing for me) and Motrin (which is my drug of choice) every four hours. It will be my first day without using my prescription painkillers. Wish me luck.

Here are some other not-so-fun aspects of having heart surgery (some of these may gross you out, so read at your own risk):

• The incision in my groin is really starting to hurt. It has been numb since surgery, until this morning of course.
• I really have no appetite. But that's because as a side effect of all the IV antibiotics they gave me in the hospital, I got some sort of a yeast infection in my mouth and have had to "swish and swallow" really gross anti-fungal medication four times a day. I know. YUCK.
• I've had my period for a week. And I had my period only two weeks before surgery, so it wasn't due. But apparently surgery brings it on for many women. Hooray for me.
• My incision is scabbed over, which is a good thing. But the scabs are starting to separate and then they scratch my chin whenever I look down.
• I have to wear these really tight knee-high socks that are supposed to prevent blood clots. Very uncomfortable.
• I've been drinking prune juice (which I really hate - but if you mix it with Sprite or 7Up it takes kind of like Dr. Pepper) because of another unfortunate side effect of the medications I'm on.

These are just trivial complaints.

But on the plus side, I'm walking a couple of times every day. I'm more aware of things and less out of it nowadays. I'm having no trouble walking up the stairs in my house. I'm relaxing at home in my jammies and watching movies and doing puzzles. And I'll be getting visitors today.

Considering that I had open heart surgery only a week and 2 days ago, I'm doing pretty well. The pain has been the worst thing I've had to deal with, and I'm really hoping that it keeps getting less and less very soon. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed!

Thanks for your patience. I'll try to post again tomorrow.

Home Again...

I'm home! I'm home!

It feels good. I wouldn't feel quite so good about everything if my mom wasn't here. She'll be staying with us for about a week. She was a cardiac nurse when she was pregnant with me, so she knows what she's doing.

My cats have decided that all of the flowers I've received make nummy snacks, so these have been put in our bedroom (the flowers, not the cats).

So Friday comes and I got some Adavan to help relax me before surgery. I think that maybe that made me too relaxed, if the uncontrollable giggling was any indication. Then they finally wheeled me into the OR (after shaving me - YES shaving me! Why? They were operating on my heart!)

So I'm in the OR and was reminded to talk to my anesthesieologist about my voice. I'm a singer and was worried about the breathing tube's effects on my voice. So the guy says, "You're a singer, huh? Why don't you sing something for me?" Of course, this is AFTER he had injected my IV with the knock-out solution. So in order to prove I could sing I belted out a hasty (and not very good) rendition of Pink Flloyd's song, "On the Turning Away." Apparently that worked because they did use a smaller tube.

There were some complications with my surgery. When they cut me open they discovered that my right atrium had fused to my breastbone. That required a bit of finessing. As they were working they also discovered an atrial septal defect that they didn't know I had. Apparently the only way to know about this is to do an esophageal echo, something that I've never had done before. So they patched that up. There was also way to much scar tissue to bybass the heart in my chest, so so the heart-lung machine was connected to my femoral artery. I think that's it.

The echo I had yesterday showed that my pulmonary valve is functioning beautifully. There's no regurgitation whatsoever with the new valve. Hooray! Thanks, Dr. Dearani!

All of my friends were right - I didn't feel like doing ANYTHING at all while in the hospital. So all of those movies and books I brought didn't even get looked at from across the room. I am going to attempt to watch a movie tonight - kind of a welcome home type thing.

Well, I'm going to attempt to eat now, so I'll be signing off. Let's see what delicious low-soduim delight my mom and hubby come up with...

Have a great night!

I'm Baaaaack

Holy Crap. I'm four days post op. And definitely NOT at full strentgth. I'm feeling quite loopy and tired. All of these meds they have me on give me quite the medicine head.

Well, it looks like I will be discharged tomorrow. I can't wait to go home and be comfy in my own PJS in my own bed. No- I haven't worn my own PJs yet because there's some drainage from hte chest tubes.

All right - I can't really type anymore, so I'm going to go back to my room and wait for RobbieMax to come. We're going to watch The Wedding Singer.

I'll try to post again when I'm more coherant.

all is well so far

Good evening, Julia Hart fans...
This is Julia's husband, known as RobbieMax (terrible name), to let everyone know that Julia made it through her surgery with no significant complications. The pulmonary valve looks to be working well, and Julia's recovery is already under way.
It was a tense five hours - from approximately 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. - when we finally met with the surgeon. He seemed happy with the results of the surgery saying that her pressure remained strong and consistent throughout.
We then convened to the ICU to wait for her arrival. She was awake almost immediately and frantically trying to write words in the air with her index finger. As I write this, she is no doubt arguing with the nurse (nonverbally) about removing the breathing tube. She wanted no part of it from the moment she awoke.
She will probably leave the ICU tomorrow sometime. We can't wait to watch movies, play games and give her plenty of lovin'. It's not every day you entrust the life of your wife to a stranger - a very helpless feeling.
Also of note: There are rumors circulating that Julia performed some "Pink Floyd" tunes as she was prepping for the operating room. She can fill you in when she is able.
Tomorrow is the first day of Julia's new life with a fully-functioning heart.
Julia will be posting again soon. Now we must all get some sleep.
Bye -

The Big Day

I can't believe it's here - tomorrow I'm having open heart surgery...

So I met with my surgeon today. He's a man with a very commanding presence, very confident, bordering on arrogant (he's one of the world's best heart surgeons - why shouldn't he be?), and very nice. Plus, he kind of looks like Stanly Tucci.

I asked him how many pulmonary valve replacements he has done. His answer: "More than anyone in the world." Woah. So I asked him about how many that was, and he said, "Somewhere between 1500-2000." Okay. I think I see the reason behind the confidence. I'm also very glad that he's my surgeon.

Guess what?! They're giving me a sedative when I check in so I don't care as much and am not so nervous. Guess what else?! They have a numbing ointment that they will put on my skin before poking me with any needles!

Speaking of ointments...here's an odd thing. I have antibacterial ointment that I have to put in my NOSE. Yep. My nose! I know! But, as my suegeon said, you breathe through your nose and right onto your chest. This will get rid of all of the bacteria that gets breathed onto my chest. Gross, huh? So I need to squirt it in there tonight before I go to bed and tomorrow morning before we leave. (I already had to squirt some of this stuff in when I left the hospital. It burns.)

Here's another strange thing - I have to wash from my chin to my knees with this surgical soap - twice (10 minutes each time). Once tonight and once tomorrow morning.

After surgery tomorrow, I will be in the ICU until sometime on Saturday. Then I'll be moved to the "Intermediate Care Unit" and will have my own private room with built in shelves, a built in cot (for whomever would want to spend the night in my room), a TV and a DVD player, and all of the other things you would expect to see in a hospital room. There will also be computers on the floor for patients to use, so I'll try tp post when I'm all looped up on pain meds. It should be a fun post!

I'm nervous, but not frightened. I'm in the best hands at one of the best facilities in the world. Everything will be fine. (That's my new mantra.)

RobbieMax will be posting on my blog sometime by Saturday morning with an update. (Let's hope I remember my password!)

And now, I'm going to finish my Dairy Queen Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard and close with a quote from the song, "Closing Time" by Semisonic. I think this quote aptly describes how I'm viewing my surgery and recovery:

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

Not Quite as Frightened

Wow. Only 2 days until I have open heart surgery...

I'm not feeling quite as frightened as I was yesterday. I had pre-op testing today and then I met with my cardiologist.

Remember that 7 AM blood draw I mentioned yesterday? Well, there was a "glitch" and when I checked in for the draw, they thought I shouldn't have it until the day before surgery (tomorrow). So I couldn't get stuck right away (oh darn) and instead went to my chest X-ray, and then back down to the vampire station. Then I had to answer "an easy question" (a quote from the check-in lady). So she hands the phone over to me and my cardiologist's Physician's Assistant asks me, "Have you been transfused or pregnant in the last 3 months?" Huh? Are you serious? Um, of course I said NO. (Although there was that time when I became "blood sisters" with my neighbor, Carrie...OH WAIT - That was NOT in the last three months. That was in the last six months.)

Anyway, things went fine. My cardiologist is the BEST. (Really, she is - she's the director of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Clinic). But she stayed and answered all of my questions and told me (quite a few times, actually), that I will be fine. She helped me to look forward to AFTER the surgery and how much better I'll be feeling.

I am a "classic case" and that means that my risk factor is less than 2%. I can live with that. (Get it? I can LIVE with that-oh, never mind. It's just my really dumb play on words.)

So I am feeling better about things. I'm still really nervous for Friday, but not so nervous about the recovery. My friends on the ACHA message boards have said that I should probably have a sense of calm about everything by the time Friday rolls around. I think I'll be feeling calm AFTER they give me the sedative when I check in.

Just think - less than 48 hours from now I'll have a new pulmonary valve. Wow.

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

F***. Only 3 days until I have open heart surgery...

I need to get to bed because I have to get up at 4:00 AM to get ready to drive to Mayo for my 1st appointment - a blood draw at 7:00 AM. Everything starts tomorrow. I have the blood draw (for which I am fasting), a chest X-ray at 7:30, and then an Electrocardiogram at 8:00. Then I don't have anything else until 1:45, when I meet with my cardiologist for the pre-operative appointment. On Thursday, I meet with my surgeon at 1:00. Then I check into the hospital at 8:30 on Friday morning.

So I'll keep this short tonight. I am so scared right now the only word that is running through my head is the word that stands for, "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge." (Betcha didn't know that one, did you?)

That's all I can think of right now. Frightening, huh? I feel like I'm losing my mind. And I can't take my beloved Benadryl tonight because of the dang blood draw. Oh well, at least this time when I wake up at 4:00AM, I won't have to worry about not being able to go back to sleep...

Better Day

Oh. My. Gosh. Only 4 days until I have open heart surgery...

So I'm feeling better today. That's a good thing, because if I'm sick they will postpone my surgery. I've had this dang surgery scheduled for 3 months. I did not go through 3 months of agonizing waiting only to have to reschedule because I'm sick.

So I'm glad that I'm feeling better. And I am going to take my chances with dinner and make my favorite comfort food - Velveeta Shells and Cheese. Yum. There's just something about those cute little shells and delicious, creamy, iridescent yellow-orange Velveeta cheese. I'm actually looking forward to eating, which hasn't happened since Friday. So that's good.

I haven't taken Benadryl since Friday, either. I was sick and slept all right.

But last night was a different story. I know I'm feeling better because I had nightmares (something about the surgery being done by my 10 year-old son and a shovel) and woke up at 3:00 AM. I didn't fall back to sleep until 4:30 AM. And I woke up when RobbieMax was getting ready for work at 7:30 AM.

Know what RobbieMax said to me this morning? He said, "I'm excited for Friday to get here." As if we were heading to a cabin on Lake Superior for a vacation. Now, IF we were heading to a cabin on Lake Superior, my response would have been, "Me too." But since we are NOT heading to a cabin on Lake Superior, we are in FACT going to a hospital where a surgeon (thankfully not Will) will be cutting me open, cracking open my chest, stopping my heart, and fiddling around in there, I said, "I'm not." And RobbieMax said, "I'm not excited for you to have surgery, Honey. I'm excited to get all of this over with and get on with our lives." And THEN I said, "Me too."

RobbieMax is right. I feel like everything - vacations, future plans, meeting Johnny Depp, has been put on hold. (Okay, I did NOT have plans to meet Johnny Depp this summer. And if I did, well then surgery would most definitely be postponed.) Since we found out I needed to have this surgery back in March, our lives have been pretty much waiting for that and not been thinking about after.

But NOW we are thinking about after. We are thinking about how much better I will be feeling. How much this will improve my life - all of our lives. How much skinnier I will be when I DO meet Johnny Depp. (Okay, you got me there - I will not be meeting Johnny Depp. But I will be skinnier.)

As the next few days pass, that is what I'm trying to focus on - the long run. How this will change my life. I haven't been doing this very successfully though, there's something getting in my way - a mountain called Open Heart Surgery.

I'm going to go make my delicious, looked-forward-to dinner. And I will be taking Benadryl tonight.

Sucky Weekend

Holy crap - only 5 days until I have open heart surgery...

And how have I spent my final weekend before surgery? Did I go to some fabulous party? Did I go to another movie? Did I win the lottery? Did I jet out to San Diego for my friend's wedding? Did I meet Johnny Depp? (Okay, that last one was wishful thinking.)

Nope. None of the above. I'm SICK. With the stomach flu. I'll spare you the details, but I'll just say it hasn't been pretty or fun.

So yesterday was spent watching movies with Will (which is always fun), sleeping, and not eating.

What REALLY sucks is that my older sis, Lynn, and my younger sis, Melanie (I am the middle child) had a fun sister day planned for today. Lynn lives in LA and is here visiting with my adorable 2 year-old nephew. Melanie has finally moved back to the area after living out-of-state. (Hooray!) It's very rare that all 3 of us are able to spend time together at the same time.

We were going to go to Borders and burn our own CDs at their music bar, go out to eat, and go see The Devil Wears Prada. (I just read the book and loved it. Very entertaining.)

One other thing we were going to do was go to Walmart. I need a couple of new bras for after surgery. Why, you ask? Well, all of my bras are underwire and back closure. For after surgery, I need soft, non-underwire sports bras with a front closure. And I need to wear a bra because the girls will pull on my incision. Aaaahhh, the things we women have to go through...

So what am I doing today instead? Staying home and washing clothes. I'm washing all of my new comfy PJs and will be packing my bag for the hospital.

I am watching the Wimbledon men's championship match. I'm rooting for Roger Federer. He's up two sets to love over Raphael Nadal and is playing a 3rd set tiebreak. Oh the tension and suspense!

What a sucky weekend. And now I'm going to eat my very appetizing breakfast of saltine crackers and 7-Up.

I'm Free!

YIKES! Only one week until I have open heart surgery...

My desk is clean, my outgoing voicemail message has been changed, my out-of-office email message is new, and I'm logged off of my computer. I'M FREE! I'm done with work until the end of the summer! What a great feeling.

I celebrated at the Mall of America where RobbieMax, Will, and I saw Johnny Depp- er, I mean Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I loved it! There's something about a movie where you can tell all the actors are having fun.

Now I am celebrating with a glass of red wine (what else did you expect?) and watching The Birdcage on On Demand. You should see it. If only for the great dialogue and Nathan Lane stealing the show from Robin Williams (whom I love). HILARIOUS!

Of course, now that I don't have work to worry about, I'll end up focusing all of my attention on my upcoming surgery. But I have a lot of things to do before next Friday.

For starters, I have a lot of new comfy, button-down PJs to wash and pack. Wow. That's all I really need to pack for a week away from home. Of course, I'll be in the hospital, but still...it will be very strange not to pack my make-up and shoes (flip-flops of course).

OH- but I will be packing my new portable CD player and my favorite CDs, I'll be packing my favorite DVDs and RobbieMax will be bringing the laptop (which has a DVD player), I'll be packing some books, my knitting (yes, I knit!), and ear plugs (for when all of those heart monitors and machines are too loud when I'm trying to sleep), my shampoo and conditioner (just in case), and um, my new yummy smelling body sprays (in case my hair doesn't get washed).

But for tonight, I'M FREE! I'm not worrying about surgery. Not yet.

One Day More

Only 8 days until I have open heart surgery...

Have any of you ever listened to the soundtrack for or seen Les Miserables? (The broadway musical, not the movie with Liam Neeson.) Well, the song, "One Day More" has been running through my head today. Why, you ask? Because the movie I have been anxiously awaiting all summer is opening in one day more? (Pirates of the Caribbean - Aaargh!) No, not because of Pirates and yummy Johnny Depp. (Although this movie is the reason I didn't have open heart surgery this week. Hey - I gotta see it on the big screen!)

Nope. That song has been running through my head because tomorrow is my last day of work! For the rest of the summer! WOO-HOO!

It's not that I don't like my job, 'cause I do. But things have been so stressful lately because I've been frantically trying to finish what no one could finish in a 60-hour work week (and I've been careful to only work 40 hours during the past two weeks). Add the stress of preparing for major surgery, and y'all know why I take Benadryl to help me sleep.

But the past week hasn't been so bad. I've somehow managed to change my mindset from thinking that I have to do EVERYTHING, to thinking that if I don't get it done, someone else will. That has been a great stress reliever.

And my coworkers and supervisor and boss have all been telling me to think about my health first, family second, and work third. So I've been taking their advice to heart this week.

But that still doesn't dampen my spirits for ONE DAY MORE! Tomorrow is for cleaning up my desk (which I've been trying to do this week already), cleaning out my inbox so my mailbox doesn't go over the size limit while I'm gone (which it always is), tying up loose ends (creating my out-of-office auto reply and new outgoing voicemail message), and turning the work I didn't get done over to other people. HOORAY!

So I shall celebrate my freedom tomorrow night by watching Johnny Depp- er, I mean Pirates of the Caribbean.

Then on Saturday I have to start getting everything set (picking up the house, washing all of my new PJs, working on my list of questions for my surgeon, etc.). My coworkers were really good to me and pitched in to give me a gift certificate to Merry Maids. Yep - I will be living out thousands of women's fantasies while I watch other people clean my house. (Aren't my coworkers great?!)

But for tonight and tomorrow, I will enjoy having ONE DAY MORE!

The Results

Only 10 days until I have open heart surgery...

I know that I must have left all of you (or both of you) hanging, but in my defense I was at my parents' house. My sis, Lynn, is in from LA with my adorable nephew and I've been hanging out with them. And my parents have this great computer, but the Internet is practically inaccessible because of the security system and firewall they have. Even the CIA couldn't hack this sucker.

Okay - I was at my regular doctor's office...

We talked about the results from the echo that I never got. Apparently they mailed them to me, but I never received them. The echo showed that I had "moderately severe pulmonic insufficiency." (What the ^%@# is that?!) My doc explained that my pulmonary valve was leaking. She said that I most likely will need to have it replaced within the next 1-3 years. I was reeling. (Incidentally, she did recommend that I see a cardiologist in the echo results I never got.)

So it was on to my next step. I scheduled my visit to the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Clinic at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. My appointment was with the clinic director, and scheduled for 5 LONG weeks from when I called.

When March 22 finally came around, RobbieMx and I headed to Rochester for a full day of testing. Mayo runs like a well-oiled machine. I checked in and got my itinerary for the next two days. They left enough time between tests for me to get from place to place.
I started with a blood draw. The waiting room for this was much like an airport terminal. All of the chairs were in rows facing the same way, toward a wall that had several openings covered with curtains. A lab tech would appear through the curtains and call your name, and you had to follow them into a little hallway with rooms on either side. These rooms had chairs in which you are supposed to sit. Of course, immediately when I sat down I started crying and hyperventilating. She moved me to another room that had a dentist chair so I could lay down (obviously I am not the only one with needlephobia). She was so good, I never even felt the needle. I'll be requesting her next week...

After that I had chest X-rays, an electrocardiogram (which took a grand total of 11 seconds), and an echocardiogram (which took two long and uncomfortable hours).

The next day I met with my cardiologist and she examined me (she could tell the right side of my heart was severely enlarged just by pressing on my sternum and feeling my heart beat).
She told us (RobbieMax and my mom were there too) that I needed to have my pulmonary valve replaced, that there was not really any functioning tissue left at all. Then she sent me on to my exercise test to make sure.

Here I am walking on this treadmill with a scuba thingy in my mouth (to check my oxygen levels while I'm walking), and electrodes stuck to my chest, side, and forehead. They kept making it harder by inclining the track and I made it to my peak in less than 6 1/2 minutes. Apparently I can do 59% of what a healthy woman my age and size can do. That reinforced my cardiologist's decision to recommend surgery WITHIN THE NEXT 6 MONTHS.

So here I am...10 days away from having my pulmonary valve replaced. Apparently since this valve is not functioning, the right side of my heart has enlarged and thickened. They will also be shaving some of the muscle to help the regression of my heart (reduction in size) and my tricuspid valve may also need fixing because it has been stretched. Fun, huh?

But this surgery is supposed to improve my quality of life - I'll be feeling much better than I am now. Truthfully, I hadn't realized that I was feeling very bad until I went to Mayo. Now I can't wait until I'm no longer as tired, short of breath, or swollen (ankles, feet, and hands), among other things.

So that's the story.

The Article

Only 13 days until I have open heart surgery...

When I was growing up, I saw a cardiologist annually. I'd have chest X-rays, EKGs, exercise tests, and the whole works every year.
The last pediatric cardiologist I saw when I was 18 told me that I had the best recovery of any Tetralogy of Fallot patient he had ever seen. So I didn't see a cardiologist for a few years.

When I was pregnant with Will, my mom urged me to see a cardiologist. (Thanks, Mom.) I had an echocardiogram (like an ultrasound of your heart) done on me, and a fetal-echocardiogram done on Will. (Incidentally, that was also the day we found out we were having a boy. "Oh," was our reaction. And Will's heart was fine.)

That cardiologist told me that my heart was fine and that I didn't need to see another cardiologist for 10 years. Ten years?! BONUS! No X-rays, needles, or electrodes sticking to my chest for 10 years?! WOO-HOO! I felt like I had won the lottery.

During that blissfully cardiologist-free 10 years, I had the normal illnesses and health problems. I developed asthma when I was 26. That was the major thing I dealth with. That and allergies.

Fast forward to December of 2004.
At my annual appointment with my doctor, I mentioned that it's been about 10 years, and I should probably see a cardiologist. She ordered an echocardiogram for me. My doc told me that depending on those results, she would recommend or not that I see a cardiologist. Sounded good to me.

I had the echo (which took about an hour). Travis the echo tech kind of had a running commentary going while he was doing the echo. It sounded like everything was fine. So I waited for my results. And waited. They never came - I never got a phone call or anything. So naturally I figured that no news was good news. It's what anyone would do, right? Right?

A year later (this past January 24, to be exact), I happened upon an article on cnn.com about childhood heart repairs and how they aren't a cure and may not last. WHAT?!
In the article, a woman who had the same heart defect as me (Tetralogy of Fallot) was profiled. She had to have her pulmonary valve replaced while she was in her early 30s. They outlined her symptoms before the surgery: fatigue, shortness of breath while going up stairs and exercising, swollen ankles and feet). I had all of these symptoms and had for a year at least. But I thought I was just overworked, out of shape, and getting fat. (Hey, wouldn't everyone had thought that?)

In the article, the vice president of the Adult Congenital Heart Association was quoted. Adult Congenital Heart Association? There was such a thing? I researched them and found a great online community, whose members were people like me. They urged me to find a cardiologist who specializes in adults with congenital heart defects. I did some more research and found that the Mayo Clinic (which is about 2 hours from me) has an Adult Congenital Heart Disease Clinic. Well, whaddya know?

Before doing anything, I went to my already scheduled appointment with my doctor that Friday. And what I found out scared the crap out of me.

To be continued...