About Me (In My Own Words)
Hi, My name is Robyn and on the 5th of August 2021 I had an Aortic valve replacement at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
My journey started in late March 2021 when I went to bed one night but was sat up reading a book. Out of no where I started to cough, it was a dry cough that left me a bit breathless for about an hr afterwards. The next day I went to work and it just felt like I was recovering from having a cold, felt a bit chesty and tired. The same thing happened approximately 2-3 weeks later so I went to the local Dr where they thought I may have a chest infection so prescribed antibiotics. Again 2-3 weeks later the exact same thing happened. Was in bed reading or watching tv when I started to cough again, but this time it was worse as it took forever to catch my breath. I knew something was very wrong so I woke my elderly mum to take me to Urgent Care. When I presented to UC at 3am on a Friday they called in the Dr on call (is a small country hospital so not always a Dr on site) , put an oxygen mask on me and did vitals. About 6am and when I was breathing better they admitted me to the hospital. Later that day they had X-ray technician come into my room and do a portable X-ray on me. Later in the morning of the Friday my local Dr came in and said my heart looked a bit enlarged and they were looking into it. Saturday morning the same Dr entered my room and said I was in heart failure...WTF!!! I went into immediate shock as I couldn't think to ask him any questions. I was released later that day and didn't even tell my mum what he'd said as I couldn't comprehend it myself. I think I eventually told her a few days later after I'd seen the Dr again in his clinic. I blasted him to for how he'd informed me. It was just so matter of fact like it was an every day occurrence. It may have been for him but it freaking wasn't for me!!!...Later in the week I was having a echo and when it was finished the lady doing the procedure asked if it was ok if she rang my Dr...I knew it was bad right away. Within a couple of weeks I was seeing Mr Andrew Newcombe who is a Cardiothoracic Surgeon from Melbourne. I was lucky enough that he came up from Melbourne to Albury to see patients. I live over 2 hrs away from Melbourne but Albury is just under an hr away. He went through what Aortic Stenosis meant and what the surgery involved and the different types of valve replacements that were available. I thought he said my "diseased" valve only had 2 leaflets where there should be 3. I haven't had anyone confirm that as yet. From there I had a few trips to Melbourne to undergo scans, echo's etc before surgery. Probably 4-6 weeks before surgery I had a phone call from another Dr saying I had tumour on my left kidney. Yeah that threw me too..lol. I had just mentally prepared myself for Heart surgery and now you're telling me I have kidney cancer!! WTF...I left the Drs after a chat with him about the kidney and went out to join my mum in the car and just started crying. It's like I hit 50 and my body is telling me it's time to pack it in. I was in more of a mess after learning about my kidney troubles than I was my heart troubles. But then after talking to family and friends and having them tell me they knew of people with the same kidney condition I was more at ease with it all. As of the 1st July 2022 I'm still waiting to have a partial nephrectomy.....
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Benalla, Australia
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My surgery date is:
August 5, 2021
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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. Jim Dimitriou