May is an amazing month

Brad and I were out running errands this afternoon, on my day off from work, and something dawned on me. Tomorrow, May 18th will mark 13 years of having a strong and healthy heart! Traditionally I eat green grapes, saltines and drink 7-up all day because after my surgery, that's all I could keep down. I do it every year and I try to be thankful every day of what I can do with a fixed heart. People tend to get confused when they see a scar on my chest. A lot of them ask if I still have my own heart, if I had a stroke (really, at such a young age?) or some just a scared to ask. I think it's a beautiful line down my chest that tells a great story of why I am still here . . . alive and healthy! Honestly, I haven't noticed my scar for years but I used to be very self conscious about it.

Anyway, my mom wrote this email to a teacher many years ago to help explain to the class what was wrong with my heart. I'm not going to change but a few words that she wrote so that those of you who DO read this, will understand what went on with my heart!

HAPPY HEART DAY TO ME!! :-)


Here’s the scoop on Megan’s heart.

Last Thursday Megan had an appointment with a Pediatric Cardiologist (children’s heart specialist) at Children’s Hospital in Seattle. She had been having pains in her chest and heart and her regular doctor wanted her to be checked out more thoroughly. We already knew that she had a heart murmur - lots of people have them and it is usually no big deal.

The Cardiologist listened to Megan’s heart for a long time and decided she would have an Echo-cardiogram. Also known as an ultra sound. It was really cool to watch the technician do the test. Megan can explain what they did. When the Doctor came back into the exam room he said the results were a TOTAL surprise to him.
First of all, he said the pains she described were normal pains that young people between about 4 and 14 years old have. They are connected to growing and hormones. Not something to be worried about.

Next he said that Megan has a passage (a fistula) from the Left Coronary Artery to the Pulmonary Artery ...... where there shouldn’t be one! The condition is not life-threatening right now but will be when she is much older (like 50 years old). To fix this, Megan will have to have a procedure called a heart catheterization, where they will insert a hollow tube into a vein in her groin and then into her heart to look around and see what’s going on. This can also be called an angiogram. If the surgeon sees that everything in her heart is OK and can fix the hole while doing the catheterization he will. If, for some reason, he can’t then she will have to have open heart surgery during the summer to fix the condition.

After Spring Break 1999:
The results of the heart catheterization were a bigger surprise than the echo-cardiogram. The cardiologist talked with us before Megan came out of the recovery room and told us that she had a major, rare heart defect that had been present from birth. The ONLY way to fix it was with open heart surgery. Almost immediately. Of the 300 heart surgeries they do at Children’s each year, they fix maybe 2 like this one. The defect is officially known as Anomalous Origin of the Left Coronary Artery from the Pulmonary Artery. In other words, it wasn’t attached where it should’a been! The LCA kinda leaks into the pulmonary artery - what they initially thought was the hole - instead of attaching to the Aorta. The right coronary artery was enlarged because for 12 years it had been doing all of the work of both arteries. We are lucky to have Megan with us. Usually this is a defect they find and fix in infants because they are sickly and have lots of health/heart problems. Those were never words that described Megan.
What needed to be done was to detach the left coronary artery (LCA) from the pulmonary artery (PA) and reinsert it into the Aorta. In the realm of heart surgery this was a “low risk” “easy fix” - only if you are talking about someone else’s child!

The following is from an email to an adult friend of Megan’s from California, describing most of the experience. You can use all of it, some of it, or none of it for a topic of discussion in your health class. Megan talks pretty freely about this whole amazing part of her life. I know she doesn’t remember some of what happened after the surgery (they plan it that way!).

She amazes me. We call her Megan the Brave. She went into all of this with such good spirit. The surgery lasted about 4 hours with a nurse reporting to us at the "high" points - when it started, when she was on
the heart/lung by-pass machine, when the actual fix was finished, when she was off the by-pass and when they were completely finished with the surgery. The actual reinsertion of the artery only took 20-30 minutes and it was a piece of cake because of her adult size vessels. We got to see her in the ICU about an hour after they finished . The surgeon came and talked to us about how it all went and he was very pleased with her vital signs. He said that sometimes the heart needs to be "primed" with blood, saline or an electrical charge when it comes off the by-pass. He said that Megan's heart just jumped right in and took over with no help what so ever. (Well, maybe just from her flock of guardian angels )

It was hard to see her in ICU with ALL those tubes and wires. She had an IV in both hands, one ankle and the side of her neck, a urinary catheter, a chest drain tube, pacer wires on either side of the drain, EKG
electrodes all over, and the ventilator tube in her mouth. When she opened her eyes, she smiled and gave a "thumbs up" when I asked how she was. What a kid. ICU was a wonderful, friendly place. We stayed there for a day and a half before they moved her to a room. I was able to stay at the hospital the whole time. They really cater to kids and families at Children's Hosp.! Megan felt better as each tube was
removed. Every medical person was amazed with the speed of her recovery. I guess that comes from being healthy and fit. The biggest problem she had in the hospital was with throwing up. The anesthetic
and morphine shut her stomach and bowels down pretty completely.
Eventually she could keep down saltines and 7-UP and she said they never
tasted so good!

The surgery was Tuesday morning and we were home by 6:00 pm on Friday. She is moving slowly but improves daily. She's had no pain meds since last Tuesday (and that was just Motrin)....... one week post-op. At that post-op appointment, she had a little fluid between her heart and lung on one side and the heart was still slightly enlarged. They put her on Lasix and an anti-inflamatory. By Friday at the echo cardiogram appointment, the fluid was gone and her heart was still enlarged but noticeably less than before. She goes back to school on Tuesday (! ) Amazing.

The scar. Its beautiful! A long, thin line. The Doc. used a plastic surgery closure not staples, so there is no Frankenstein scar. With proper care and no sun exposure it should fade to barely noticeable!

And that's the whole story. :)