Mike's Profile

I'm a very active 45 year old man. My favorite activities are rock climbing, hiking, and cycling. Early in the summer I was climbing a particularly difficult bounding problem and my heart went from probably 120 to 190 instantly and was bouncing all over the place so bad I couldn't get a good pulse read. I went to my primary and he asked if I was aware I had a significant murmur. He scheduled and echo and I was diagnosed with a severe mitral prolapse. A few days after I ended up in the intubated in the ICU for pnemonia/ARDS, which has a 40%+ mortality rate. I survived that. I was discharged after 2 weeks on Sept. 2nd. I feel like I overcame the odds only to have to go back in for open heart surgery on November 2nd. I dread being back on intubation in the ICU. I think I'm dealing with PTSD. I am trying to keep positive for myself and those around me.