BRENDA's Profile

I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease in 1978 and was treated with MOPP at George Washington Hospital and Group Health (now Kaiser) in Washington, DC. I had been in remission from Hodgkins Lymphoma since 1982. In 2004, I was diagnosed with aortic stenosis while in a 10-day stay in the hospital. I was living and working on completing a Master's in Counseling in Mississippi. I caught a cold/virus that I could not get rid of. I passed out at home. Luckily, a friend was visiting me and she called the rescue squad. I had severe pneumonia along with aortic stenosis. I was told it was caused because of radiation of my heart more than 30 years before to treat the Hodgkins. My arteries were clear. I was afraid to get the surgery a number of doctors told me I needed. I finally went in for valve replacement surgery at Cleveland Clinic on November 24, 2010 and was released from the hospital and rehabitation on July 31, 2011. It was a long (8-month) hospital & rehab stay. I am grateful to God, my doctors and nurses, and my support system (family, especially my daughter and my one of my sisters) for my life. I am independent again and I intend to keep improving in health. Since surgery, I went through the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program at Washington Hospital Center, which helped tremendously. I have been hospitalized numerous times in the last few years, mainly for complications from the side effects of taking Coumadin.