A year ago I ran the best race I ever ran in my life. I was the fittest I've ever been. Fast forward to today, and I'm on the waiting list for open heart surgery. How did this happen?
I always knew that there was a huge family history of heart disease on my father's side of the family. Being a nurse, I knew the ways to prevent heart disease and followed them: low fat diet, exercise, treating my high cholestrol. When you look at a photo of my family, I stand out as the thin one - I've been thin all my life. I've never smoked and I hardly drink alcohol. Doing all the right things wasn't enough, however - it can't beat genetics.
On January 3rd I came down with a chest infection, which lasted for a month. Four courses of antibiotics later, I still had a hacking cough so my G.P. referred me to a cardiologist for a cardiac echo. I was so angry about this - I thought it was just another test my G.P. was sending me for - I refused to believe it could be my heart. I almost cancelled the appointment! I had just been through a breast cancer scare and found out there was a family member (first cousin) with the breast cancer gene so I was going through that - trying to assess my risks and whether to be tested or not, so I had a lot going on. Luckily I did keep my appointment.
During the cardiac echo, the young man who was performing the test ( basically an ultrasound of the heart), mentioned that there was a "communication between the upper chambers of the heart". I had to wait a few days for my appointment with the cardiologist and in that time had built up so many scenarios in my mind that I was in a state by the time I had my appointment. What did he mean by communication - was it a problem with the conducting system, or a problem with my valves, or a hole, or what? Any other person probably wouldn't have taken much notice of what he had said, but, being a nurse, we know too much for our own good. Enough to know of all the possibilities but not enough to have a really good knowledge of the problem. You can't be naive and oblivious, it's too real: you've seen too many things go wrong to seemingly healthy people.
I had my appointment with the cardiologist. A nurse took my history, did an ECG and a few other observations. By the end of that, I was in tears: how could I ignore all those symptoms, when they so obviously point to a cardiac condition? For years I have had palpitations, dizziness on standing suddenly, a cough, and migraines. For years doctors have fobbed me off or told me it's from stress, and now this nurse was telling me my symptoms pointed to heart disease! My panic level rose ...
So the cardiologist reviewed my echo results and said I have a PFO. Pardon my ignorance, but I had never heard of that and had to get him to write down what it stood for: a patent foramen ovale. It's a hole between the atriums (upper chambers of the heart) that is supposed to close when you're born but in 20% of the population it stays open. Only a small percentage of those (maybe 1%) have problems, which can include migraines and TIA's (Transient ischaemic attacks).
He said that he could fix my migraines if I had the hole closed! I had never heard of this before, and because my migraines are so debilitating (daily headaches and runs of migraines that last days), I was very keen to explore the option of having the hole closed. More about this next blog entry
No comments:
Post a Comment