About Me (In My Own Words)
At 28 yrs old, I was a nurse and working Baylor shift on the weekend. I had been getting SOB for a while, but this day I almost couldn't make it into the hospital. I was walking down the hall and had to sit down in the floor. My gynecologist was coming toward me and saw me. He immediately called one of our cardiologists and he set me up for a stress test that afternoon. I was on the treadmill for 20 seconds and fell off into the Dr's arms, unable to breathe. They took me straight to echo. My mitral valve was 98% restricted. He could not believe i was alive much less still working. He put me straight into Cardiac Intensive Care to get me medicated to the point of being able to have the surgery. It was a week until my daughter's 1st birthday. A year ago she and I had almost died. She came 8 weeks early due to my being in CHF(not known at the time) causing me to cough continuously. The Dr finally had to put me in the hospital and sedate me and the baby. She was born with a hole in her heart and a hole in her intestine due to all of my coughing causing her ribs to puncture them. They spontaneously closed themselves off. Which was another miracle in my story. Back to a year later: I stayed in CIC all week and begged to go home for her birthday. They did let me go home if I stayed on my couch, no walking or exertion at all. I checked back into the hospital on Monday for surgery Tuesday. Mine was the first valve surgery ever done at our hospital. They treated me like a celebrity. I remained in the hospital for 8 days. After I began my rehab. My repair was supposed to last 10 years. During that time, I went back to school and became a paramedic and worked helping run an ambulance service. I loved it!!!
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
-
I am from:
Wellford, South Carolina
-
My surgery date is:
January 17, 1981
-
I was diagnosed with:
Mitral Stenosis
Coronary Artery Disease
-
My surgery was:
Mitral Valve Repair
-
My hospital is:
Spartanburg Regional Medical Center
