Crazy Greg's Crazy Heart
Jun. 11th, 2016 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greg_rI think everyone here knows about my crazy heart. Below the cut I'll talk about that and what's going on with it at the moment, mostly to let me sort my headspace about it all.
So, I had my yearly checkup this week. On a slight tangent, it seems that whenever something interesting happens its after they miss a years appointment. It seems like some of the bits I've had wrong with me for a while are not playing nicely with the new valve I had fitted 5 years ago. At the moment they aren't entirely sure which part is to blame and I'm being set up for another round of tests including MRI, CT scan, exercise test and 24hr cardiac tape. I'll then find out if they want to do corrective surgery, explorative surgery or leave it alone for another year. So it's all a bit up in the air.
Talking a step back. My heart condition is Truncus arteriosus. It was corrected by surgery at 11 months to give me a heart with two separated halves, with my orignal valve going to the left ventricle. Cadaver tissue was used to give me a proper pulmonary artery and aorta as well as valve for my right ventricle. Stents were then fitted when I was 6 to make all those baby heart vessels a bit bigger and the vavle in the right ventricle was replaced 5 years ago. They have known that the blood vessels I had fitted at 11 months are too small for a while and it seems like they are finally a problem.
On the one hand this sucks. I don't really want to have major surgery again. If it's the blood vessels this would have to be open heart surgery, which is considerably more complicated than anything I've had since I was a baby. On the other hand, I've know that this is a problem that has needed addressing for a while. It's not a shock and it should improve my tolerance for physical activity when complete.
So yeah, it's not perfect. At the end of the day though I can't fight it. I might not need anything doing and if I do then I'll do it as theres mlt a lot else I can do. Heart surgery has come on so much, I'm one of the first people who successfully had the operation Ihad as a baby. Stents became a thing, as originally I was meant to have these blood vessels replaced when I was 6 and 16. It's even come along since 5 years ago when they were thinking about replacing these blood vessels at the same time as the valve.
In summary I'll be alright, it's just a bit irritaing and has given me a case of the why-me's, when really I should be grateful I was born when I was. In the 70's 15% of people with my condition lived to adulthood, now its 85% and I was part of those fist few who were as likely to survive as not.
It's all good stuff in the end.
So, I had my yearly checkup this week. On a slight tangent, it seems that whenever something interesting happens its after they miss a years appointment. It seems like some of the bits I've had wrong with me for a while are not playing nicely with the new valve I had fitted 5 years ago. At the moment they aren't entirely sure which part is to blame and I'm being set up for another round of tests including MRI, CT scan, exercise test and 24hr cardiac tape. I'll then find out if they want to do corrective surgery, explorative surgery or leave it alone for another year. So it's all a bit up in the air.
Talking a step back. My heart condition is Truncus arteriosus. It was corrected by surgery at 11 months to give me a heart with two separated halves, with my orignal valve going to the left ventricle. Cadaver tissue was used to give me a proper pulmonary artery and aorta as well as valve for my right ventricle. Stents were then fitted when I was 6 to make all those baby heart vessels a bit bigger and the vavle in the right ventricle was replaced 5 years ago. They have known that the blood vessels I had fitted at 11 months are too small for a while and it seems like they are finally a problem.
On the one hand this sucks. I don't really want to have major surgery again. If it's the blood vessels this would have to be open heart surgery, which is considerably more complicated than anything I've had since I was a baby. On the other hand, I've know that this is a problem that has needed addressing for a while. It's not a shock and it should improve my tolerance for physical activity when complete.
So yeah, it's not perfect. At the end of the day though I can't fight it. I might not need anything doing and if I do then I'll do it as theres mlt a lot else I can do. Heart surgery has come on so much, I'm one of the first people who successfully had the operation Ihad as a baby. Stents became a thing, as originally I was meant to have these blood vessels replaced when I was 6 and 16. It's even come along since 5 years ago when they were thinking about replacing these blood vessels at the same time as the valve.
In summary I'll be alright, it's just a bit irritaing and has given me a case of the why-me's, when really I should be grateful I was born when I was. In the 70's 15% of people with my condition lived to adulthood, now its 85% and I was part of those fist few who were as likely to survive as not.
It's all good stuff in the end.
