About Me (In My Own Words)
Hi All - my name is Brett and my heart journey started about 20 years ago with a detection of a sight heart murmur during a regular physical. Nothing happened for the next ten years — active in hiking, swimming and lifting weights at the gym. About ten years ago the Mitral valve showed signs of mild leakage — still no big changed in my activity and better yet no meds. But things started to change about eight years ago — noticeable changes where getting tired after workouts more than usual — getting winded during long hikes , etc. This is when meds entered my life — blood pressure medicine to make my heart “happy” — my problem was the dosage amounts — it started off to high — made me dizzy at times — getting up from the sofa to quickly would make me almost pass out — add a glass of wine to the evening and it was watch Uncle Brett walk funny. Lucky for me my cardiologist kept adjusting my dosage and we dialed it in and all was good. Then about four years ago I experienced a Afib attack - I ended up in the hospital for two day to get my heart back on track. The crazy thing I didn’t even know what it was and was uninformed about Afib - my Cardiologist had never spoke to me about it — the event scared me and made me mad — more on that in a minute. Sotalol entered my life and to be honest it changed it and not in a good way — yes it slows your heart rate down and helps to prevent Afib - thats a good thing but for me it changed my activities because it keeps your heart slowed down. Workouts and other activities were not the same and a side effect for me on the meds were weigh gain — over the past 8 years about an extra 15 plus pounds.
Sooo getting back about the mad thing — after the Afib attack — that woke me up - I realized that no one and I mean NO ONE will advocate for me more than myself. I started reading — set up a twitter account to follow hospitals , doctors , medical studies, and medical associations and a YouTube account to listen to talks from doctors and medical associations — also to look at valve procedures and understand my heart better.
So in May of this year — my Echo showed severe leakage and believe or not — it’s not uncommon to wait for 6 months to do another Echo - a wait and see procedure — that was not for me. Because I had done my homework sort of speak — from my studies and research I knew that the best outcomes where to address the issue - NOW - for the best long term results. So its taken 2 1/2 months of tests , talks with my Cardiologist - interviewing thoracic surgeons — to get to this point in my heart journey — my surgery date is set for August 17, 2018. Besides a Mitral valve repair — he will do the Cox maze procedure for the Afib and also a Atrial Appendage amputation procedure.
The next 6 months to a year will have its ups and downs Im sure but Im looking to this getting this done and moving on with my life — so many thing to do and people to meet and places to go.
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Phoenix, Arizona
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My surgery date is:
August 17, 2018
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I was diagnosed with:
Mitral Regurgitation
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My surgery was:
Mitral Valve Repair
Maze Procedure
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My surgeon is:
Dr. Dr. Kevin Brady
