About Me (In My Own Words)
While being seen for a pre-op for an unrelated elective procedure, the nurse noted a fairly severe heart murmur. I knew that my primary had mentioned the murmur previously and I had had an EKG in 2017 that described it as mild.
I went immediately to my primary for a new EKG. The murmur was noted to be "very loud" but I was feeling fine. Our gyms had just reopened 6 weeks earlier and I was doing HIIT workouts every other day.
I was sent for an ECHO and told that my Aortic Valve was at a .5. It was basically calcified shut. I went for an angiogram and they determined that I had no other issues whatsoever. It was concluded that the damage to my valve was due to radiation I had received as treatment for lymphoma 25 years ago. I had no idea that this was even a possibility.
Less than 20 days after the first detection of the murmur, I underwent Open Heart Surgery. I opted for this route as I am a relatively healthy 49 year old with an active lifestyle and did not want to be on blood thinners.
The surgery went well, recovery was going well. I followed up with all the doctors including my new cardiologist. As November rolled around, I was back to driving and felt really good. Then, the weekend of thanksgiving I started to get episodes of intense pain in my upper back. I went back to my primary to be sure everything was okay. All seemed fine from a heart perspective. It was determined that my pain was muscle/nerve brought on by my increased activity.
I stadted taking pain relievers and muscle relaxers. The pain got progressively worse over the next couple of weeks. I was in near constant debilitating pain. I even ended up in the emergency room to get a shot of a stronger pain reliever. A CT was done. Nothing major showed up. It was assumed to be a pinched nerve. I was given a mild steroid. The first day I took it, I started to have breathing problems. The dose was graduated and the breathing issue went away the next day but the pain came back even stronger. I was given prednisone. I was to take 40 mg a day for 4 days. The first day I took it, the breathing issues came back. By the third dose, I could barely get a breath. I had a follow up with my cardiologist on the 4th day and was told that I was in congestive heart failure and needed to go straight to the ER. She said, per an ECHO, I now had a leaky mitral valve, leaky tricuspid valve and my EF was 15%. My restimg heart rate at this point was hovering around 115.
I was in disbelief. I was also certain that my new issues were being caused by an allergic reaction to the prednisone. She discounted this theory but I was insistent. I stopped takimg the prednisone. She started me on Aspirin, metropolol, LASIK and lisinopril. Three days later, on Dec 18th I went for a full work up with my surgeon.
I was able to walk around the hospital only mildly out of breath and my EF was noted as now being 35%. Not great but improving considerably. The surgeons office was not concerned with what the new tests showed and agreed that the symptoms were more likely than not due to the steroids.
The next day my cardiologist tells me that everything is not fine, I need a defibrillator, another angio and probably a pace maker!
I again protested and said that I was going to give my body time to get rid of all the pain meds and steroids and let the new meds do their job. I then requested a thyroid panel as I have been on meds for HYPOthyroidism for 25 years. The results showed that I was actually HYPERthyroid. So I was getting way too much synthroid, which can make your heart rate go way up.
I stopped the synthroid as well.
I am now about 5 weeks after the issues started. My heart rate is back down in the 80s and goes up to about 125 when I am on the treadmill. I had another ECHO on Monday and I see her for the results in two days. I need nothing but good news as I am getting married in 4 months...
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
New York
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My surgery date is:
September 21, 2020
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I was diagnosed with:
Aortic Stenosis
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My surgery was:
Aortic Valve Replacement
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My surgeon is:
Dr. Hashmat Ashraf
