Ticking Time Bomb
Jul. 15th, 2013 02:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kajelMy sister, Stacy, is 34 years old. She is a registered nurse and works in the cardiac ward at a hospital in NY. She has her dream job and she is living life to the fullest. She wanted to be a doctor when she was younger, but one of her doctors told her that residency would kill her. He meant that literally. My sister's heart has been a ticking time bomb all of her life.
My parents brought Stacy home from the hospital in April of 1979. She's the third daughter. They had one week of happy normal parenthood before m y mother realized Stacy seemed to be sick. So, she took her to the doctor. The story I have heard my whole life is that the doctor took one look at Stacy, scooped her up and ran for the door saying that she needed to get to the hospital across the street as soon as possible. Stunned, my mom ran after him.
Without medical intervention, my sister had only hours to live. What no one had discovered until then was, Stacy had a birth defect in her heart. Her aortic valve that should have three flaps that open and close while the valve pumps blood, only has two. This allows blood to flow the wrong way through the valve. She also has Aortic Stenosis. My mom always described that as the muscle of her heart grows slowly and keeps trying to close off the valve.
Stacy had her very first heart surgery when she was eleven days old in Phoenix, Arizona. The prognosis given to my parents was that she wouldn't live to see her 16th birthday.
Stacy was always the most independent of the four of us girls. I remember when we were young; she had to have medication every day. She was always so very skinny. We called her our skinny bone jones. I don't think she appreciated the nickname. She seemed sickly to me in the first five or six years of her life. You didn't ever tell her how sick she was though or that she couldn't do something. That was pretty much throwing down the gauntlet. She was a tenacious little thing. She would do whatever it was and be damned the consequences.
Her second surgery was in Chicago Illinois when she was five years old. Her third surgery was in Los Angeles, California just a year later at the age of six. I remember that there was a visiting pediatric cardiologist who just happened to be there. He caught that the work done in the surgery in Chicago was no longer working. After that surgery, I think Stacy was stronger for a long time. She was no longer on medications daily.
In school, Stacy was able to play softball, but not basketball as she wanted. As I said, she was independent and didn't want to be thought of as sick. She did know her limits. Sometimes, she would push them. A few times, other people pushed them. Substitute teachers and PE didn't mix. The class was running a mile the day Stacy plus a sub equaled a trip to the ER. The teacher assumed Stacy was slacking and lying and forced her to run the mile. After, she went into the bathroom, passed out and cracked her head open on the sink. Luckily, episodes like this were very few and far between.
We celebrated Stacy's 16th birthday with extra cheer. A few months after her 21st birthday, she started haveing major problems again. She ended up requiring a pacemaker, because they had left the valve alone for too long. Part of her heart muscle had been damaged. She had her fourth surgery that fall in Jacksonville, Florida. This time she was finally grown completely. They replaced her aortic valve with an artificial valve. She could have had a pig valve. The doctor told her that with a pig valve, she would still be able to have children. However, that valve only lasts about seven years. The thought of surgery again in seven years was too daunting.
In March 2010, Stacy discovered her artificial valve was failing. She needed surgery as fast as possible before the valve failed for good. Stacy's 5th surgery was a week before her 31st birthday in Albany, NY. The doctor ended up replacing the failing aortic valve that was already artificial and also the mitral valve. With all the scar tissue from previous surgeries, the surgery was extremely difficult. The six-hour surgery lasted eleven hours. When he was done, the doctor told my mother that if he ever said he was going to do a surgery on a 5th time surgical heart patient again, she was to hit him with a bat and remind him of what he just went through, because he didn't ever want to have to do that again. My mother loves that surgeon. He was one of the few personable ones.
My sister has recovered and has moved on with life again. She is doing pretty well for someone who wasn't going to see her 16th birthday. Thank goodness medical science continues to move forward.
-----------
This is my entry for LJ Idol: Exhibit B. This week we are doing two topic. This is my first for The Heart of Time. My second entry can be found here for the email that made you feel like a BAMF.
My parents brought Stacy home from the hospital in April of 1979. She's the third daughter. They had one week of happy normal parenthood before m y mother realized Stacy seemed to be sick. So, she took her to the doctor. The story I have heard my whole life is that the doctor took one look at Stacy, scooped her up and ran for the door saying that she needed to get to the hospital across the street as soon as possible. Stunned, my mom ran after him.
Without medical intervention, my sister had only hours to live. What no one had discovered until then was, Stacy had a birth defect in her heart. Her aortic valve that should have three flaps that open and close while the valve pumps blood, only has two. This allows blood to flow the wrong way through the valve. She also has Aortic Stenosis. My mom always described that as the muscle of her heart grows slowly and keeps trying to close off the valve.
Stacy had her very first heart surgery when she was eleven days old in Phoenix, Arizona. The prognosis given to my parents was that she wouldn't live to see her 16th birthday.
Stacy was always the most independent of the four of us girls. I remember when we were young; she had to have medication every day. She was always so very skinny. We called her our skinny bone jones. I don't think she appreciated the nickname. She seemed sickly to me in the first five or six years of her life. You didn't ever tell her how sick she was though or that she couldn't do something. That was pretty much throwing down the gauntlet. She was a tenacious little thing. She would do whatever it was and be damned the consequences.
Her second surgery was in Chicago Illinois when she was five years old. Her third surgery was in Los Angeles, California just a year later at the age of six. I remember that there was a visiting pediatric cardiologist who just happened to be there. He caught that the work done in the surgery in Chicago was no longer working. After that surgery, I think Stacy was stronger for a long time. She was no longer on medications daily.
In school, Stacy was able to play softball, but not basketball as she wanted. As I said, she was independent and didn't want to be thought of as sick. She did know her limits. Sometimes, she would push them. A few times, other people pushed them. Substitute teachers and PE didn't mix. The class was running a mile the day Stacy plus a sub equaled a trip to the ER. The teacher assumed Stacy was slacking and lying and forced her to run the mile. After, she went into the bathroom, passed out and cracked her head open on the sink. Luckily, episodes like this were very few and far between.
We celebrated Stacy's 16th birthday with extra cheer. A few months after her 21st birthday, she started haveing major problems again. She ended up requiring a pacemaker, because they had left the valve alone for too long. Part of her heart muscle had been damaged. She had her fourth surgery that fall in Jacksonville, Florida. This time she was finally grown completely. They replaced her aortic valve with an artificial valve. She could have had a pig valve. The doctor told her that with a pig valve, she would still be able to have children. However, that valve only lasts about seven years. The thought of surgery again in seven years was too daunting.
In March 2010, Stacy discovered her artificial valve was failing. She needed surgery as fast as possible before the valve failed for good. Stacy's 5th surgery was a week before her 31st birthday in Albany, NY. The doctor ended up replacing the failing aortic valve that was already artificial and also the mitral valve. With all the scar tissue from previous surgeries, the surgery was extremely difficult. The six-hour surgery lasted eleven hours. When he was done, the doctor told my mother that if he ever said he was going to do a surgery on a 5th time surgical heart patient again, she was to hit him with a bat and remind him of what he just went through, because he didn't ever want to have to do that again. My mother loves that surgeon. He was one of the few personable ones.
My sister has recovered and has moved on with life again. She is doing pretty well for someone who wasn't going to see her 16th birthday. Thank goodness medical science continues to move forward.
-----------
This is my entry for LJ Idol: Exhibit B. This week we are doing two topic. This is my first for The Heart of Time. My second entry can be found here for the email that made you feel like a BAMF.
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Date: 2013-07-19 05:29 pm (UTC)I had a niece who had a similar defect (maybe the same one) and only lived three weeks. They had no idea until an autopsy was done. It was devastating.
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