Yesterday...

The cath went well yesterday. I'm at home today resting. I'm supposed to stay off my feet as much as possible which I believe equates to "be as bored as possible". It was pretty interesting. We made it to the hospital at 6:00, got checked in and I was in the cath holding area by 7:00. We went over some questions, they started an IV and when the doc got there, we got started. I was pretty tired from having to get up and ride down that morning, so when they gave me the narcotics, I pretty much passed out. I woke towards the end of the procedure. They inject some dye into your blood stream and take an x-ray to get a better picture of your heart and when the injection hits you it feels like your body is on fire. They had to do that twice and that was really the worst part of the procedure itself. I was back in the holding area by 10:00. I had to then lay completly flat for serveral hours. At around 12:00 they allowed me to incline some and at 2:00 I was allowed to sit all the way up. At 3:00 they had me swing my feet off the bed and when I was ready, I was able to get dressed and then we were gone.

As to the results, the cath showed pretty much the same thing that the echo showed. We're going to have to have surgery this summer. We go back in about a week or so and at that point we'll set up a time frame for when we want to do the surgery and we'll talk about what will actually be done. I'm not terribly surprised. I still feel fine and don't have any symptoms, but the tests all say otherwise.

It's going to be a tuff summer, but we'll make it. Now that the inital shock has passed, we've put our trust in the Lord and I know that this is what his plan is and that whatever happens, he'll be glorified in it. We ask that you all continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we want to once again say thank you for all the prayers that have already been said.

I also would like to say thanks to Joy for bringing over dinner for us last night and to her mother for the wonderful cake. It was very kind of you both and we can't express our appreciation with words alone.

We forgot to take the camera again, so once again, no pictures for the public to laugh at. Surely we'll be able to remember the thing when I go for my surgery. Anyway... I'm still doing research on the net about the condition. I'm going to turn my attention now and see what I can find on the surgery itself. I'll continue to post any good links I find. I'm also going to start telling more people about the blog. Now that it's a done deal that I'm having the surgery, I don't see any reason not to tell everyone about it. Till next time,

Paul

Comments!

I turned comments on. I was reluctant to do so but I figured I would give it a shot. I intend to moderate them so be warned that any comment posted is subject to being deleted by me if I find it unacceptable. If things get out of hand I'll just turn comments off again. So please, don't be that guy that ruins it for everyone else.

thanks,

Paul

Under Pressure

Well we had the stress test yesterday. They didn't run me to hard. We only went to level three so I was only on the treadmill for about 7 minutes. My legs were starting to burn and I was short of breath but I didn't have any chest pain, dizziness or numbness. However, my cardiologist did see signs of my heart's oxygen demand outstripping the supply I was able to give it. This is due to the increased work my heart has to do to push blood across my aortic valve. So, the stress test provided more evidence that surgery may be necessary in the near future. Not exactly the news we were hoping for, but it wasn't totally unexpected either.

As for pictures, well, I kind of forgot to put the camera in the car, so we didn't get any pictures. Of course there wasn't much to it really. They did shave a couple of spots on my chest where they had to put the little pads for the EKG readings and now they're itching like crazy. Other than that, getting blood drawn was really the only bad part of the day. My arm still hurts a little. Let me tell you, vampires are real and they can come out in the day as long as they're disguised as nurses. I'm kidding, but still, you would think they could come up with a better way of doing things.

It's kind of weird writing the blog at the moment. I haven't actually told many people I know about it yet. I guess I'm waiting for the cath results to know for sure what's going to be happening with me and surgery and everything. I don't want to send anyone into a panic. There's nothing anyone can really do about it. It's something that I've known I was going to face ever since the last surgery and it's not like I'm handicapped or anything. I'm still able to lead a normal life.

I do appreciate all the prayers that have already been said on my behalf and for the prayers said on DeAnne's behalf. I don't think it took but about 3 days for us to land on every baptist prayer list in the county. We really do appreciate and we draw strength from knowing that so many people care and are praying for us.

I want to say thanks to Courtney and Edwin for going out to eat with us last week after we finished up at the cardiologist's. We had a great time and look foward to doing it again under happier circumstances. We were really still shell-shocked from the news and you guys really helped to distract us and get us past the initial fear that had set in. Thank you.

I think that's all I've got for now. When I do start telling people about this blog, at least there will be plenty for them to read. If I don't post again before the cath, I'll see you afterwards. Keep us in your prayers.

Paul

Profile Pic

Finally found a picture to use for the profile. This is me and DeAnne on our honeymoon. It was the night of the captian's dinner on our cruise so that's why we're all spiffed up. Later,

Paul

Child's Play

Following on the line in the last post about the NES and playing Zelda before my surgery. For the past couple of years two guys that run a popular website about video games have run a charity called Child's Play. What they do is each year they gather cash and toys and video games and donate them to various children's hospitals around the country and even the world this past year. Everyone knows I like to play video games and I think this is a wonderful idea and a great way to cheer up some kids that don't have a lot to be happy or excited about at times. Please check out the website @ http://www.childsplaycharity.org or click the link in this post or to the right in the links section. They take donations year round, but around September or October they'll create Amazon wish lists for the hospitals they're working with for you to buy toys and send them directly to the hospitals.

Thanks,

Paul

A Long Time Ago...

So not long after I was born, the doctors heard a heart mumer. After some echos and a cath, they determined I had aortic stenosis. The condition progressed until at age 8, the cardiologist decided we needed to take a closer look. I had a cath done and the results showed that I needed surgery. I had a birthday between the cath and the surgery so when I went in for the open heart surger, I was 9.

As I said in the first post, I don't remember much about it. I remember being thirsty when I woke up in ICU and then throwing up after convincing the nurses to give me some grape soda. I remember not allowing them to pull the second stomach tube out after they pulled the first one because the first had hurt so bad. I remember they had a NES and a TV on a cart and they brought it to my room before the surgery and it was the first time I ever played The Legend of Zelda. I remember not wanting to laugh becuase it hurt so bad to laugh and we watched America's Funniest Home Videos (back when Bob Saget hosted it) one night and it hurt so bad I cried. And I remember being on a no salt diet while in the hospital and the food was so terrible that I hardly ate anything they brought me. Then when we got out I made mom and dad take me to a McDonald's and order me a large fri. But other than that, it's all a blur.

We go tomorrow for the stress test. Hopefully they won't run me to far into the ground. I'm going to have Dee take some pictures, so maybe Tuesday there'll be a picture of me on a treadmill for everyone to laugh at. We have to be at the doctor's office at 8:30 so it means an early morning for us. We also have to do chest x-rays and blood work. Anyone that knows me, knows how I hate needles. I think I'm more worried about the blood work than anything. Needles just freak me out. Take care and say a prayer for us.

Paul

It Begins Anew

So let's talk about what brought this all about. Every year since I've been born (sometimes twice a year) I've made a trip to Mobile to see my cardiologist. This year's trip was this past Tuesday (March the 21st). After seeing the doctor, we did the normal echo. The results weren't as good as they've been being and so the doc decided we needed to do a stress test (Mon. the 27th) and a heart cath (Thurs. the 30th). If you check out the wikipedia link on the right, you'll see some graphs and an explanation that the severity of the condition is based on an estimate of the pressure gradiant between the left ventricle and the aortic valve. Ignoring the units of measure, 40 is considered pretty good, 50 okay but not great, the 60s are border-line and anything above means it's time to take a closer look, hence the heart cath. The bright spot in all of this is that the echo only provides an estimate of the pressure, not an absolute reading. It's entirly possible that when we do the cath, the actual pressure will be found to be much less than the 72 they estimated last Tuesday. If that's the case, then surgery can be deferred and all is well. If the actual turns out to be closer to the estimate, then we're looking at surgery to replace the valve.

In the next couple of posts, I hope to recount what memories I do have from when I had my first surgery. I've also got some more links to post to the right of the page. I did add an article I found at the UAB website about the doctor that did my first surgery. Dr. Pacifico is retiring at the end of June this year and the article talks about his history and the work he's done in his time as a doctor. After reading it, it's pretty wild to me to think that this guy has actually worked on me.

Anyway, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll find a picture to put up in my profile one of these days.

Thanks for reading,

Paul

Welcome

Hi,

My name is Paul and I have a heart condition called aortic stenosis. When I was nine years old, I had open heart surgery to repair my aortic valve. The surgery was successful and got me 16 years of health and happiness. The repair was never meant to be a permanate fix however, and now at 24, I face the possibility of having another open heart surgery to replace the valve. This blog is really intended to keep friends and family updated on my status and progress. I also wanted to do it for me, so that I would have a way of better remembering the events as they happen. I was nine the last time I went through this and my memories of that time are pretty much a blur due to what I believe to be a combination of time and my mind blocking out what is a pretty traumatic event for a nine year old. Having said that, anyone that stumbles across this blog and finds it interesting or has gone through this or knows someone who has gone through this or anyone else for that matter is more than welcome to join me.

Thanks,

Paul