About Me (In My Own Words)
After seeing my GP a few times over a couple of months, she was finally concerned enough that she rang the local hospital and demanded that at such a young age, 44, there were too many symptoms, shortness of breath, Afib, increase in weight through fluid etc and i needed to be seen a lot quicker than waiting for another 3-4 months.
Went through the Emergency Dept that night, 4th December 2014 and stupidly thought that after a quick checkup and a couple of pills would see me sorted.
The next morning after a series of tests, the Doctors stood in front of me and were saying that i was suffering from heart failure.
After the initial fright and disbelief i settled into a week of further tests which showed that my Mitral Valve was more than likely damaged from rheumatic fever, again another surprise.
The week flew past and on Friday 12th December that surgeon and his team were sitting in my room saying that if the Intensive Care Unit stayed quiet over the weekend my operation would be first thing Monday morning.
Wasn't until i was listening with my wife and signing the waivers etc that it started to sink in that this was actually happening.
Thankfully when my family visited over the weekend and a lot of the other people in the Cardiology Unit made it a fun weekend taking my mind of everything.
Probably wasn't until the Sunday night after the nurses had done my pre-op shave and i was in the shower that a few nerves started to settle in. A small sleeping pill certainly helped through the night.
Next morning, up early and thankfully off to the operating theatre quickly so no time for nerves.
Next thing i know i am waking up in the ICU early evening.
The next morning along with nursing staff, the cardiology physio had me standing beside my bed and for a short time sitting in a chair. Hard to do still hooked up to wires and tubes everywhere, but felt good.
2 funny things (i know) now. The nursing staff gave me a pillow to hold to my chest for all the coughing that i was expected to do over the coming days which i still have tucked away in my room over a year later. The next thing was the shower i had on the Wednesday morning after surgery. Would have to rate it as one of the best showers of all time, being able to walk on my own to the shower, carefully wash myself. Just stood there and let the water flow over me. Great.
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Christchurch, New Zealand
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My surgery date is:
December 15, 2014
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I was diagnosed with:
Mitral Regurgitation
Atrial Fibrillation
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My surgery was:
Mitral Valve Repair
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My surgeon is:
Dr. David Shaw
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My hospital is:
Christchurch Public Hospital
