Today’s story is going to be a little different. I want to share a more personal story with you today about something that has affected my family and affects many families across the world. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for Canadian men and women. It’s safe to say we all know someone who has been affected in someway by cardiovascular disease. For my family it hit close to home. This year I’ll be participating in the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Big Bike Ride to raise money for the research that prevents heart disease and stroke and saves lives. Here’s why I’m riding this year and the story of how they were there to support my mom through her life saving surgery.
From Heart Murmur to Torn Valve
My mom had known for a while that she’d had a heart murmur but never really knew just how severe it was. When she was referred to a cardiologist she wasn’t expecting to come out of the appointment with any new information and figured she would be told to come back every couple of years.
“I was only going because your aunt made me”
She didn’t see much point in going and only went because my aunt wanted her to go. After an ultrasound of her heart, an EKG and talking to the cardiologist they determined it was much more than a heart murmur. She actually had something called mitral valve prolapse (MVP). Most people with MVP are able to live fairly normal lives and there is only a 5% chance of requiring surgery. However, my mom’s valve was torn and needed to be replaced. She needed open heart surgery to save her life.
The Path to Surgery
My mom was placed on an emergency surgery list and impatiently waited the phone call to tell her when she’d get her surgery. About a year later that call finally came. But that year didn’t go by easy. It passed with more appointments at the cardiologists, countless more echos and EKG’s, a few rounds with halter monitors, chest X-rays and an angiogram that left her bruised and in pain. It also meant my sisters and I needed to be seen by cardiologists as well. MVP often runs in families and is more often passed on from mothers to daughters. This is when I was diagnosed with MVP by the cardiology team at BC Children’s Hospital.
What is MVP?
When the doctor at BC Children’s Hospital sat down with me to discuss the diagnoses he told me to think of you heart valve like a barn door. Normally the barn doors would shut and they’d stay flat and would not let anything in or out. Sometimes though one of those barn doors does not close properly and instead of closing flat one door bulges back a bit. When this happens with your mitral valve one of the leaflets of the valve bulge, or prolapse. This can sometimes cause blood to leak back through the valve, this is called mitral valve regurgitation. Signs and symptoms often don’t start until someone starts to experience mitral valve regurgitation. Some of the symptoms are things that you would expect, a fast, irregular heart beat, dizziness, fainting, fatigue, shortness of breath. Other symptoms are a little more bizarre: random, stabbing chest pains, a chronic cough and migraines, difficulty breathing when lying on your back. Sometimes I can feel and hear my own heartbeat, it keeps me up at night and makes it hard to sleep at times
The Surgery
My mom left early in the morning on December 11 and headed to Vancouver General Hospital where she had her surgery. In the operating room they hooked her up to a heart and lung bypass machine, a machine that would allow the doctors to temporarily stop her heart so they could replace her torn valve. Once the machine was breathing and circulating her blood for her they could start the surgery. My mom had decided to have her valve replaced by an artificial, mechanical, valve even though it meant being on blood thinners the rest of her life. Almost exactly 3 hours later the doctors came out to say that the surgery was more successful than they could have hoped. My sisters and I impatiently waited at home for an update. Doctors in the end were actually able to repair her valve. My mom was moved to the ICU where she spent the night then the next day was moved to the cardiac unit where she spent five days as the youngest person on the floor at the time.
Recovery
The heart itself recovers fairly quickly after surgery, it’s everything else that takes a while to heal. It’s all the incisions healing, the back pain and your sternum healing after being wired back together, that’s probably the worst part. After being discharged from the hospital recovery was long and hard. She’d lost approximately 12 pounds due to pain medications making her sick. She was confined to small movements for the first while, no driving for five weeks, no work for three months, no heavy lifting, no walking long distances, she had to hold a pillow to her chest whenever she coughed or got into a car. But still a week later my mom was shuffling down the street to walk my little sister to school.
Why I’m Riding for Heart and Stroke
Someone in Canada dies from heart disease or stroke every 7 minutes. I feel that often times a lot of people ignore or minimize their symptoms. I’m riding to help bring awareness. When people are aware of the symptoms there’s more time to react and time is such an important factor when it comes to heart disease and stroke. I’m also riding to raise money for the important research that the Heart and Stroke Foundation does. They rely a lot on donations to fund their research, research that educates the public and saves lives, lives like my moms. I’ve made it my goal this year to raise 800$ and my team’s total goal is 3000$. Your support really means a lot, if you would like to donate to the event you can find my page here. Thank you all so much for reading, liking, sharing, donating, and supporting the cause. Thanks to the hard work of all the doctors, nurses and the Heart and Stroke Foundation my mom is still here with me today, and I want to help create that opportunity for other families.