About Me (In My Own Words)
I was born with Tetralogy of Fallot April 9, 1957. Since this heart surgery was not being performed when I was born, my parents had to wait. When I went into heart failure, then I had surgery to close the hole the left ventricle. After a month or so, I came down with pneumonia, "drug fever", and then a staff infection developed on the patch that was put to close the hole. Dr. Effler performed a second open-heart surgery to remove the patch and simply sew up the hole. I survived!
After delivering 3 healthy children, my heart experienced distress and had doubled in size. In 1992, I learned that during my first heart surgery, the only possible way to "correct" the pulmonary stenosis associated with Tetralogy of Fallot was to "whittle" out the pulmonary valve. So in a sense, my pulmonary valve had been removed. My cardiologist explained that this was why my heart had doubled in size, it was like a balloon filling up with water because the heart could not push all the blood efficiently.
Since my heart had doubled in size, I began to experience tachycardia, or superfast heartbeat...probably 220 beats per minute. This would happen for no apparent reason and landed me in emergency rooms to slow it down by IV meds. From 1992 to 2000 I was waiting to find the right hospital and the right surgeon. It was a scary time!! My faith has grown by leaps and bounds. I'm thankful to be alive and find life worth living, praise God!
I do want to thank Dr. Gordon Danielson at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, for performing my heart surgery in 2000! Thanks to Dr. Carole Warnes, my cardiologist, for giving me the best care during that time also!!
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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My surgery date is:
March 1, 1962
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I was diagnosed with:
Mitral Regurgitation
Pulmonary Regurgitation
Pulmonary Stenosis
Atrial Fibrillation
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My surgery was:
Mitral Valve Repair
Pulmonary Valve Replacement
Maze Procedure
Pacemaker Implant
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My surgeon is:
Dr. Donald Effler
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My hospital is:
Cleveland Clinic
