TenPly
Well-known member
Okay, so I haven't posted much at all since my aortic and mitral valve replacement and aortic root replacement back in 2005, but I read on this forum often.
First, I can say that I've been enjoying life very much since my surgery. I'm 24 now, and I've been doing A LOT of living these past three years. It was a tough situation at first, but I have many of you here to thank for helping me and my parents get through it.
Though I was pretty much asymptomatic at the time of the operation, the decision to go forward with it was made when an echo and subsequent CT scan revealed that the root of my aorta was dilated 5cm.
Back in 2005, during a consultation with my cardiothoracic surgeon, he said to me that even though they'd be resecting the aneurysm on the root of my aorta, they may have to perform an additional procedure "later on" in case another aneurysm develops on the arch or descending aorta -- in which case they'd likely go in through my side.
Since my surgery, I have quit my full-time job and now I'm a full time student. I've been doing great heart-wise, except that lately I've had some pain in my chest wall, which actually caused me to have shortness of breath for the first time ever. I've also had these sharp pains that radiate between the center of my chest and my left side. Of course, I knew what to do -- I went straight to the urgent care center at UCSF, but they did nothing! I told them what I was experiencing and that I had valve replacement surgery 3 years ago and all they did was run an EKG and ask me to wait for the doctor to evaluate the results.
Well, I sat in the waiting room for six hours that night and eventually left without being seen -- still with chest pains and shortness of breath. This was a Friday. The following Monday, I went to the clinic on my school campus. The shortness of breath was gone, and the chest pain subsided a bit. At the student health clinic, they did a chest x-ray and another EKG.
Side note: this was the first time I saw my two St. Jude valves on an x-ray and they looked so cool!! Okay, back on topic...
I sat in the exam room while the doctor reviewed the results. When he came in, the first thing I noticed was this guy was not looking me in the eye as he gave me his explanation of the results. I don't mean he was distracted or busy with something else -- he was literally staring at the floor while talking to me. He said that the x-ray and the EKG were "normal." I asked him a lot of questions too -- I mean I grilled him and he appeared to not even have a clue as most of what he was saying was BS. And I couldn't get past his demeanor...there's something very disconcerting about a doctor who won't make eye contact with you.
So get this -- I returned later to pick up copies of the results and the paperwork for my chest x-ray says, "The heart is at the upper limits of transverse diameter..." All I can deduce from that line is that the overall diameter of my heart is somewhat large. Of course, it's just an x-ray -- no match for the imaging capabilities of a CT scan or MRI, so I'm not letting myself get upset over that one line. I'm just mad at the doctor for saying everything was normal when I'm experiencing symptoms like this.
Anyway, I've scheduled an appointment with my cardiologist on the 24th. And I'm getting an echo done as well, so I'll finally have some real answers soon. I'm hoping everything is okay, because I don't want to go through OHS again, so we'll see what the verdict is next week.
First, I can say that I've been enjoying life very much since my surgery. I'm 24 now, and I've been doing A LOT of living these past three years. It was a tough situation at first, but I have many of you here to thank for helping me and my parents get through it.
Though I was pretty much asymptomatic at the time of the operation, the decision to go forward with it was made when an echo and subsequent CT scan revealed that the root of my aorta was dilated 5cm.
Back in 2005, during a consultation with my cardiothoracic surgeon, he said to me that even though they'd be resecting the aneurysm on the root of my aorta, they may have to perform an additional procedure "later on" in case another aneurysm develops on the arch or descending aorta -- in which case they'd likely go in through my side.
Since my surgery, I have quit my full-time job and now I'm a full time student. I've been doing great heart-wise, except that lately I've had some pain in my chest wall, which actually caused me to have shortness of breath for the first time ever. I've also had these sharp pains that radiate between the center of my chest and my left side. Of course, I knew what to do -- I went straight to the urgent care center at UCSF, but they did nothing! I told them what I was experiencing and that I had valve replacement surgery 3 years ago and all they did was run an EKG and ask me to wait for the doctor to evaluate the results.
Well, I sat in the waiting room for six hours that night and eventually left without being seen -- still with chest pains and shortness of breath. This was a Friday. The following Monday, I went to the clinic on my school campus. The shortness of breath was gone, and the chest pain subsided a bit. At the student health clinic, they did a chest x-ray and another EKG.
Side note: this was the first time I saw my two St. Jude valves on an x-ray and they looked so cool!! Okay, back on topic...
I sat in the exam room while the doctor reviewed the results. When he came in, the first thing I noticed was this guy was not looking me in the eye as he gave me his explanation of the results. I don't mean he was distracted or busy with something else -- he was literally staring at the floor while talking to me. He said that the x-ray and the EKG were "normal." I asked him a lot of questions too -- I mean I grilled him and he appeared to not even have a clue as most of what he was saying was BS. And I couldn't get past his demeanor...there's something very disconcerting about a doctor who won't make eye contact with you.
So get this -- I returned later to pick up copies of the results and the paperwork for my chest x-ray says, "The heart is at the upper limits of transverse diameter..." All I can deduce from that line is that the overall diameter of my heart is somewhat large. Of course, it's just an x-ray -- no match for the imaging capabilities of a CT scan or MRI, so I'm not letting myself get upset over that one line. I'm just mad at the doctor for saying everything was normal when I'm experiencing symptoms like this.
Anyway, I've scheduled an appointment with my cardiologist on the 24th. And I'm getting an echo done as well, so I'll finally have some real answers soon. I'm hoping everything is okay, because I don't want to go through OHS again, so we'll see what the verdict is next week.
