Hello everyone.... I am new here :-) I am soon to be 40 years old on May 22nd. I was diagnosed with ASD back in 1997. They did a cardiac cath back then and they really believed it would close on it's own. Fast forward to now....I went to the emergency room on April 7th with shortness of breath, chest tightness and feeling light headed. They ran tests and told me that the hole was indeed still there and that it was a lot bigger. SO I went to see a surgeon yesterday and we set up a cardiac cath for May 7th. He is going to try to close the hole at that time, but he is not sure if he is able to because it is quite large. SO if he can't then he will schedule me for an open heart surgery. Needless to say I have been really scared since April 7th and I am doing all I can to try to stay calm. But I can't help it. There is apart of me that is angry too. Only because I have been in and out of the emergency room for a few years now with the same exact symptoms and no one thought at that time to look to see if the hole was there or bigger, and I told them that I had been diagnosed back in 1997. I know this is my journey that I must take, but I am scared. I am however happy to have found this support group here. I hope I can make some new friends here, alleviate some of my fears too. Thanks everyone...... Lisa
Lisa,
First of all Hi and welcome! So sorry you are going through this. It is scary. I had open heart surgery close to a year and a half ago. It will be okay. I know you are hopeful that your doctor can close the hole with the heart cath procedure. My hole in my heart was unfortunately too big. Please let us know how the procedure goes on May 7th. Will be thinking about you.
~Laura
Welcome, Lisa, there are a lot of success stories here. May yours be the next. :)
Thank you LLpeaches and dancermom :-) I am trying to be hopeful and trying to stay positive through all of this :-) I will update you both on how things go.
You are welcome and thank you for the friend request! I think it is great to have friends in this community so we can support each other. :) I will be hoping for the best for you on May 7th! Yes, please do update us. :)
Hi Lisa,
Advance Happy Birthday!! Hang on and Stay strong. May God bless you. Everything will be okay.
Lisa, I too was scared. It’s been a year since my ASD had been repaired with the Amplatzer. After the surgery, I felt great. Have faith. I will keep you in my prayers. Let’s talk after your procedure. I want to hear how amazing you are feeling. Xoxo
Susan(Sunflower)
Hi Lisa,
I had OHS a year and a half ago. I know it is a scary thing to have to go through. I hope they are able to repair the hole with the cath. I will be thinking of you tomorrow. Happy early birthday...Maybe they can fix it before your birthday!! My birthday is today-May 6th...I am now 37! So you aren't alone.
Hugs to you!
~Laura
Happy birthday, Laura and Lisa both! Many happy returns!
Thank you!!!! :) It's been a great day!! :)
Hi Lisa,
I am also new here and my story is similar to yours. I've had a heart murmur since forever and two years ago I had an echo/hotler monitor and no ASD reported. So now I have a device closure scheduled for later this month.
I am a cancer survivor so I really let that be my guide---if I survived that, then this will not beat me either. I am staying very positive because that is what helped me beat cancer. Find a mantra like, "I can do this, I will be fine" and say it a million times a day. It is meditative and will help you keep a positive focus. Hopefully that will help.
Geri
You're not alone. Sometimes doctors overlook some obvious things partially because they're not perfect.
Part of me wonders if my mothers lung disease would have progressed to the point it is now had they found and closed the hole in my mothers heart earlier. I don't know if it's related but I also don't know if it's not.
My mother was having stomach issues all fall. She was getting into a state of unconsciousness repeatedly due to it. They didn't test her ammonia level until March of this year and if you read up on high ammonia she had all the symptoms through the fall of last year.
You're young. You sound like you're strong. You'll get through this even if they cut your chest open. My mom is 66 and she has so much going on health-wise and she got through it. Just advocate for your own health from now on now that you're more knowledgeable. Make sure you trust and know your physicians.
I'm here to help anyway I can. I comforted my mother through this time with a lot of what I read here. You guys have been a great support to her and she doesn't even know it. I'm going to try to get her to use the computer so she can maybe one day post with you guys herself.