About Me (In My Own Words)
Hi Everyone,
My name is Matt Althauser. I'm a 31 year old American living in Amsterdam.
About two months ago, I started to get a spike in migraines which was concerning as it coincided with a feeling that something had changed in my health. After a few weeks passed, I experienced my first ever ocular migraine before boarding a flight for work. This lead me to speak with a neurologist who ensured me that what I was experiencing was stress and anxiety related. That night, my left arm starting tingling while playing basketball and I experienced yet another normal migraine. With the bill of clean health from the neurologist (I have no family history of heart problems), I boarded the flight back home and decided to get back in shape and try to lower my stress levels.
A week later, I had agreed with my neighbor and colleague to train for a triathlon. It seemed like a great way to focus on something other than work and get fit while doing it. While swimming to prepare for a triathlon, I suddenly got a strong pain in my chest which also made my teeth and jaw hurt. It happened in the middle of a lap and hurt so bad I had to get out of the pool. I thought that it was pressure from the water and decided to ride my bike home. The pain turned into a bad migraine, so I decided to sleep it off.
The next morning, my pain had calmed a bit, but was still there so I decided to go into the doctor's office to get checked. After checking my blood pressure and an EKG, the doctor did not see anything wrong. She told me that it was probably heart burn and that I should go home and rest.
That night I woke up at 3am with increased chest pain and very strained breathing. I called the late-night doctor who asked me to come in and see her. After she checked me, she wasn't able to see anything wrong either (EKG & BP were fine again) and referred me to the emergency room. The doctor re-checked my blood pressure along with an additional EKG. He also checked my legs for any swelling and asked if I had any history of hyper-tension...no. The doctor on shift concluded that I either had an infection in my lungs or an infection of the Pericarditis, the sac around my heart. He told me that both are not life-threatening, but he would like to perform a CT Scan the next day to be sure and get me on the right medication. I remember being frightened to leave the hospital yet again in such pain. I even asked the nurse when I was leaving if he could please give me additional pain killers, but he said no. They did tell me to take over-the-counter paracetamol and I headed home to the couch for the longest wait ever.
About 10 hours later on a Friday afternoon, I finally got to the hospital where I walked from one end to the other. I was walking slower than any of the elderly patients and knew something wasn't good at that point. Upon arrival at radiology they performed a CT Scan on my lungs. I still remember the faces of the technicians after they came to let me out of the CT room. They told me to walk to the other end of the hospital and wait for a doctor to come and get me.
When I got to the other area, there were no doctors, but luckily I spotted a group of nurses. I asked them if they could tell me what was wrong with me and they had to call all of the departments in the hospital until they realized that I needed to be in the ER.
They walked me to the ER where the head nurse got me onto a bed and asked me if I had already spoken with the surgeon. This was the first I had heard of any surgery and proceeded to freak out. The nurse figured out pretty quickly that she had "said too much" and ran off the find the surgeon.
The surgeon and a few cardiologists broke the news that my aorta was already dilated to 8CM and that I needed emergency surgery that night on my aorta. Needless to say I was completely in shock and had no idea how big it should have been or what to answer when he asked if I wanted a mechanical or animal valve. After calling my family, we decided on mechanical despite the blood thinners and he told me that there was no time to wait. Once the OR was free from another surgery, I was going in.
The following three hours were filled with phone calls to close friends and family. Luckily my wife and two daughters were also there to send me off.
The surgery ended-up being 10 hours because my surgeon, who was AMAZING, was able to save my natural valve with a David Procedure. The diagnosis was an "Type A Ascending Aorta Dissection".
When I woke-up I was extremely happy to see friends and family who had flown in from the United States and Germany to be with me. I've now been recovering for 5 weeks and am doing relatively well considering the wild ride.
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Amsterdam, Netherlands
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My surgery date is:
May 8, 2015
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I was diagnosed with:
Aortic Aneurysm
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My surgery was:
Aortic Valve Repair
Aortic Aneurysm Replacement
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My surgeon is:
Dr. Andrew Tjon
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My hospital is:
OLVG
