About Me (In My Own Words)
I went to the doctor for a bum knee on Feb 2nd. I hadn't been to the doctor in a couple years, so he did a check up. Next thing I know he is hooking me up to an EKG machine. He then gives me a stack of papers and tells me to go across the hall and schedule these test. I come back and ask him whats up. He said he heard something in my heart and didn't like it. I did a tilt table test, wore a holter monitor for 24 hours and had an ultra sound done. I go back to the doctor 30 days later and that's when he told me I have Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease. Several more tests are ordered and I get an appointment to meet with a cardiologist. I went to all my appointments and took all the tests and did research on my own. I had a test on a Wednesday and got a call from my Doc on Friday after hours. He said I failed a test, and would probably get a call from cardiologist sooner then later. Monday rolls around and sure enough I get the call from the cardiologist. They canceled my first appt. and rescheduled it with a different cardiologist and a surgeon. By now I'm starting to freak out. I researched the hell out of this and knew something was wrong. At the same time I started to feel like crap. I'm getting tired faster, getting short of breath from talking, and all around not feeling good. My appt. comes and I'm talking to the cardiologist and I start to have the flutters that I have had for a while. I have never had one while with any kind of medical person. He hooks up the EKG machine and the surgeon walks in. The EKG machine spits out the first sheet of paper and the Cardiologist has this look on his face. I knew right then that my flutter was finally picked up. They then both listen to my heart, and tell me I need a heart cath, and a TEE. Three days later I get the heart cath and TEE done. A surgeon comes in and tells me how lucky I am, my valve is shot but I have no damage to my heart or coronary arteries. He set up an appt. with the head surgeon for the following Weds. He said the only thing they noticed was my Aorta was enlarged but nothing to bad. Weds. the 27th of April I am going to get Minimally Invasive Aortic Valve Replacement surgery Scheduled. I go to this appt. nervous, anxious, and excited. I'm finally going to get this scheduled and start to feel better. I'm talking with the surgeon and he informs me that my Aorta is a concern, and that I have an aneurysm (3.6) and they need to do a CTA scan before they can do surgery. They try to get me in right away for the scan, but my insurance has a 4 day wait on scheduling CT Scans. So now I have an appt. Tues. May 3rd. It seems like months away now. I was so close to putting and end to this chapter in my life, and now I have to wait and have more tests done. I made a few phone calls and was able to get the CTA Scan approved through my insurance. My new appt. is April 29th at 4:00. A difference in a couple of days isn't that big of a deal, but in this case it is. If I can't get on the schedule next week, then I'll have to wait a whole week. The surgeon is going on vacation the following week. I don't know if I can handle waiting two more weeks. I just want to get this over with and start my recovery, plus the stress of waiting is killing me.
So that is my story so far.
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Perrysburg
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My surgery date is:
May 3, 2016
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I was diagnosed with:
Aortic Regurgitation
Aortic Stenosis
Bicuspid Aortic Valve
Aortic Aneurysm
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My surgery was:
Aortic Valve Replacement
Aortic Aneurysm Replacement
Coronary Artery Bypass Graft
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My hospital is:
St. Vincent Medical Center
