As some of you know, I have been dealing with a lot in my life over the past 2 years. Honestly, I have been dealing with it a lot longer, but the last 2 years have been where it has gotten a little scarier than the rest.
Let me start with a little backstory. I don't want to get too deep into it, but 1996 I'm a 17-year-old high school kid trying to figure out this thing called life. My mother had been feeling ill and decided she needed to go get herself checked out at the hospital. Little did I know That was 1 of the last times I would see her. She went from getting checked out to being transported to a larger hospital a little over an hour away where they had the appropriate doctors to diagnose her condition. Long story short, she had heart failure along with an enlarged heart. A couple months later she was gone.....
Now fast forward to 2017.
I had made it to almost 40 years old and had started to make a name for myself here on the forum. I also started feeling a little different as far as health went. I had noticed my heart was always racing without anything to make that happen. Wasn't doing drugs, wasn't drinking heavily, nor was I abusing any pills. I decided to go get myself checked out. I was diagnosed with heart failure myself. At the time I had piss poor insurance and I feel like some doctors treat patients differently based on whether they do or do not have insurance and the type of insurance they have. If you're a rich person with great insurance or cash, you're gonna get the best treatment. If not, well I feel like you get shit on.
My Doctor at that time did the bare minimum. Ran as few tests as possible and made me feel that I wasn't worth his time. I went to my appointments like I should and took the medicines as prescribed but in the end, I decided he wasn't doing much to help. Eventually I just said screw it and stopped going. (not the smartest thing to do BTW)
Now let's fast forward to 2021.
In March of 2021 I had gone into the hospital because I could not breathe. I felt like I was drowning and gasping super hard for air. Somehow, I had dealt with that for 2 weeks until I decided I needed to go to the Emergency room, or I was gonna die. Within a half an hour of arriving there, they had taken x-rays and seen my heart was surrounded by water and they needed to get the water off my heart ASAP. I ended up being hospitalized for a week and given water pills and oxygen until I pissed out 9 liters of water. Needless to say, I was pretty close to death by being an idiot and not getting checked out sooner.
The good part of that stay in the hospital is I was given a new heart doctor. During my stay they had ran multiple tests, 1 of which was called a left heart catheter. That's where they open your wrist (sometimes groin) and send a scope through your artery into your heart and take a look around. You are completely awake for this test and it's weird as fuck. They got some more information about my condition and made some changes to my daily meds that doctor #1 prescribed years earlier.
My new doctor was leaving the hospital and passed me off to another doctor. He was not happy with all the tests that had been done to this point, so he ordered what is called a TEE Also known as a Transesophageal echocardiogram. This is basically an ultrasound of my heart. They shove a tube down your throat and take pictures of your heart. This test I was not awake for, but this test found an important factor in my case. It had found that I was born with a Bicuspid aortic valve. Most of the world is born with a Tricuspid valve. July of 2021 is when all this was found. I had been getting regular CT tests as well and they know that I had an aortic aneurysm that was likely caused due to the faulty valve I was born with.
By October of 2021 I was scheduled for open heart surgery. I don't think I've been more scared of anything in my life. It's not a small surgery by no means and definitely lots of things that can go wrong where a patient may not make it through. Not to mention 1 hell of a long recovery process.
They opened me up and cut out most of my aorta and replaced it with medical tubing. Along with cutting out the faulty valve and replacing it with a mechanical valve. I thought that this surgery was going to happen, and everything was going to be fine. I just had to wake up and focus on the healing process. Apparently, I was incorrect. I took the meds and tried rehabbing as best I could, but I always seemed to be tired.
My doctor had exhausted all that he knew to test and decided to send me to a heart specialist. While going through this specialists' tests multiple times, we had found that while in fact the first surgery did save my life, it did not fix all my issues. My heart had already been damaged to the point that it was not going to heal completely, and I was going to need a transplant.
So, for the past 6 months it seems like I have had anywhere from 1-3 appointments per week. Running test after test and getting vaccines. It's a very lengthy and costly process. Finally, after all this time I have jumped through enough hoops and have been listed on the heart transplant list at status 4. I just got the news Thursday. I also will be admitted into the hospital early January and be a status 2 recipient on the list. This means on average I will have a 2-4 week wait for my 2nd heart surgery.
Let's hope I survive this surgery, and everything is fine this time. I'm obviously going to have many obstacles to deal with at that time, but I'm optimistic that I'll be able to get through. Insurance covers some of the costs of the testing and medicines, but not gas, food, hotel rooms if overnight stays, or lost wages from my wife taking days off. I'm not asking for donations or anything, but I do have a bitcoin address in my profile if anyone wants to help out they can. I have been communicating with a few on here that know my story. Jayce, condoras, hopenotlate, and a couple others can confirm this all to be true.
Why post this you ask? The main reason is to show you that even though some of you think I am lucky and probably live a rich and lavish life, I am human and have everyday problems like all of you. If you'll notice, my issues are hereditary meaning passed on from my family. I urge all of you to get checked and get your kids checked. Whether it be mental health or physical health, it is very important to make sure you are in the best condition you can be in. Don't put it off, get tested ASAP. Not all issues will be obvious and can only be found through testing.
If this story helps 1 person I will feel it was worth it to share my story. I hope anyone who takes the time to read all of this will also take the time to make an appointment and get checked.
