Ventricular Reconstruction
I got a bulletin today about a report in the New England Journal of Medicine about a study involving the Ventricular Reconstruction I went through at the start of 2007. Only one part of the study is completed, but it shows no improvement in clinical outcomes. That would not be good news for me, except for the fact that my health was in a steep decline and I needed a heart transplant before the surgery.
Although I’m headed back for transplant, my ejection fraction improved to 39% after the surgery and my chest pains and shortness of breath decreased for a good year to 18 months as a result. I was offered the experimental surgery to “buy” me a little more time on this heart, and that’s exactly what it did. Perhaps the second part of the study results will reflect my own experience. But I would take the surgery again in a heartbeat (no pun intended) if it would buy me another year or two like the last couple.
I’m hitting nitro pretty much daily now and I am surprised at what little things will take my breath away. Standing up from kneeling at mass…oy, what happened to my git-up-and-go? But I still don’t get any chest pains from exertion. My farm animals arrive unbiden, as I lay in bed or on the couch, or while I sit at the computer or in a car. Inasmuch as it’s daily, now, it’s not wuite so scary unless it’s the elephant and I’m taking my third shot. Four is 911.
I have this picture of my tired little heart all scarred up and bandaged and on crutches, scrabbling it’s way to a finish line that neither of us can see. There’s a video online of a girl collapsing with a broken leg before she gets to the finish line. Once she’s across, a man helps her up, then picks her up and carries her away.
That’s what my heart needs. Someone who will help it up and carry it for just a little while.
