My mom is a living heart miracle! You may think that sounds funny, but after hearing her story, I know you’ll agree that it’s true. She’s also a reminder that while many heart problems are caused by our own lack of exercise and poor diet, many other heart problems are congenital, present at birth. For those who experience congenital problems, and they can crop up at any time, it’s even more important to live an active, healthy lifestyle. That way, if a problem should arise, you’re in the best position to survive. For my mom, Jane, she remembers that as a child her nose bled a lot. At other times, she’d turn blue and faint. Her parents took her to doctors, but they could never find anything wrong. Then a country doctor in Batavia, Ohio realized something was wrong with her heart. He immediately sent her to Cincinnati’s renowned Children’s Hospital. Once there, mom was diagnosed with pulmonary stenosis - a valve birth defect. Simply put, her valve would not open correctly and was causing her heart to enlarge. In those days, doctors did not operate on this type of condition until you were dying, because you were basically an experiment. When mom turned twelve, it became apparent that she was dying. She was given her last wish, to visit the local Krohn Conservatory for plants, and then sent to the hospital. They moved her surgery back three days to accommodate another boy who was dying. And, as they were wheeling her into surgery, my grandparents were told that little boy did not make it. She remembers my grandma and grandpa crying over her and telling her they loved her. She also remembers being confident that God would save her. So, in January of 1956, mom became the first person in Cincinnati to survive surgery to open her pulmonary valve and structurally repair it. Fast forward exactly 50 years later to December 2006. My mom had lived a happy life as a wife, mother and small business owner. She’d lived a healthy lifestyle, always active and always eating right. She’d had regular appointments with her cardiologist. She was in great shape. It was during that annual cardiologist appointment that he noticed something was wrong. The structural repair to her heart had worn out. Her pulmonary valve was flapping, and she was dying again. Now, for my sister and me, this was scary because mom had always said she’d never have open heart surgery again. She always described that surgery as extremely painful and still suffered from great pain during weather changes, since her ribs had been cracked during the surgery. They were wired together and would ache. But, in the end, when faced with death, mom relented and chose life. It’s funny but, 50 years later, they still didn’t know much about the pulmonary valve. For mom, they knew they couldn’t repair the valve this time; it had to be replaced. They did know it couldn’t be replaced with a pig valve, only with a cow valve, but even now, the surgery she needed was rare. They had to find a special surgeon that had done a pulmonary valve replacement. Luckily there was one locally, although she would only be his sixth patient to receive the replacement. So, on December 1, 2006, mom’s pulmonary valve was replaced with a 26mm cow valve. Some things had definitely changed in fifty years. For one, there was a live blood donor in the room for her original surgery. Now, she lost no blood. Her incision was much smaller, and her ribs were not re-cracked. Other things did not change, such as the medical staff. In fact, two of the nurses that helped perform the original surgery asked to be in this one too. And her original surgeon, who was still living, sent best wishes. Mom survived with no complications and is back to her normal life. Her heart is still enlarged from the original damage it received when she was a child. But, she has a healthy prognosis going forward. She’s a living example that while some things are not in your control, by eating healthy and being active, you can help insure a positive outcome if something does happen.
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