Jennifer's Journal

I'm beginning to get a little nervous about my Upcoming surgery on April 17th at AB in Birmingham, Alabama, the same hospital I have my Tetralogy of Fallot repair in 1974. We met with the surgeon on March 5th and scheduled the surgery after the kids spring break. It was interesting to find out that I didn't even have a pulmonary valve just flaps, part of having Tetralogy of Fallot. The surgeon said that I was blessed to not have had to have this done well before now... I will turn 45 the week before and most with TOF have it done in their teens or 20's. Dr. Mauchley said the surgery would take around 4 hours and unless there were gaps in the patches that were placed during my TOF repair in 1974, he would not even have to stop my heart to replace the pulmonary valve. If there are gaps he will have to spot my heart so he can repair the patches. I'm slowly getting items I think I need for the hospital and for recovery at home.

I was born, in 1973, with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. In September of 1974 I had what they call a "full" repair but my parents were told at time that it was possible that in my teens or early 20's I would probably have to have a pulmonary valve replacement or repair due to pulmonary regurgitation. Well, here it is now 2018, 44 years later and I have yet to have that valve replaced. Until now. January 11, 2018 after being referred by my cardiologist to an Adult Congenital Heart Doctor (ACHD) and after several tests I was told it is now time to replace the pulmonary valve and needs to be done within the year. This replacement will have to be done by open heart surgery :'( but any other I might need afterwards can be done via cath. I also have Afib and Aflutter for which I have already had an ablation for in August 2016 but I am still having episodes so my ACHD has referred me back to the Electrophysiologist who performed my 1st ablation and I am scheduled for a second ablation on February 22. I also have to see a liver specialist because there were 2 or 3 small lesions that showed up on the cardiac MRI and the ACHD wants to make sure all is fine there before the valve repair. I have an appointment this week with the liver doctor. After all this is complete and I'm given the all clear I will be scheduled for the valve repair, which I hope to have done early spring to give me time to recover some before my kids are out of school for the summer.