Life Saving Pesky Hiccups
My husband gets the hiccups. Like chronic hiccups. Food gets stuck (impacted the docs like to say) and he gets the hiccups and he has to excuse himself to get it all worked out and sometimes it's hours of hiccups. Painful hiccups. Not the kind babies get.
So last year after dealing with this for most of his life, he asked me to ask G's GI doctor who they would recommend for adults. Well they have two adult doctors at the practice. I picked one and made the appointment.
That was last September.
At that appointment the doctor said you need an endoscopy. Then he did a standard check to clear him for surgery. He found a heart murmur. Lew called me on the way home and I joked because I had just read on line that everyone has heart murmurs. A good friend of mine has one that she gets checked but it's no big deal. Something like 70% of the country has "innocent" heart murmurs. No big deal.
He made an appointment with our friend the cardiologist so we could find out it was nothing and he could have the endoscopy and get rid of the pesky hiccups. Bonus that he got to hang out with our friend! We had spent the better part of the summer living in their house while we were between houses. It was funny that he would see him again as a patient. He's been our landlord and our doctor! Too funny!
He goes to see him. He listens. Sets up the stress test. Lew calls me on the way home.
It's not an innocent heart murmur. He has to go back for a sonogram to see what's going on.
On the day of that appointment, I told him to have him text me the exact name of the issue and the exact name of the treatment. I was going to google.
At 12noon as I was feeding my one month old baby I recieved this text:
Mitral Valve Prolapse. Severe Regurgitation. Open Heart Surgery.
I about threw up all over my baby. But it was a mixed blessing that I was holding him in that moment, because I could not freak out. I'd disturb him. And I'm one that tries very hard to hold it together for the kids.
For the next few days we lived in a haze. Talking with the cardiologist office and figuring out which of the available surgeons we were going to use. Lew, upon hearing that it was open heart surgery said, there has to be another way. And so the doctor said, Actually, there is. There are these two doctors in town that can do it thoracically. So we appealed to their offices to get on their schedules.
I think it was a month later? We were able to be seen. I got a sitter for the kids so I could go to the appointment too. We listen to the surgeon. Yup, he needs surgery. Okay. When can we do it? Sooner the better. How long will he be out? Normal recovery time is 6-10 weeks to be up and mobile again. But he's so young, it may be as short as two weeks.
It will take a year to fully recover.
The surgery was set for January 4th. It was done. I don't want to talk about it. We lived through it. We lived.
He is better. The surgery fixed him.
Had he not gone to the doctor on that day last September, the valve that was broken and allowing blood to flow the wrong way through his heart ... would have kept doing that. His heart would have kept growing. It would have grown to the point that if he had gone to the gym one day, lets say just a year later ... if he had gone to the gym at 34. He could have had a heart attack.
He could have been one of those stories that you heart about; young man dies leaving young family. Everyone shocked. No outward symptoms. Just a congential heart defect that no one ever knew about.
I tell you this story now because I'm sort of just now getting to the point that I can tell it, really, and appreciate it for the blessing it is. Then, a year ago, it felt like the worst joke. The worst most horrible news ever. My husband was 33. He had a new baby. This could not be happening.
I still get upset. Because yes it's fixed. But what has it done to his life expentency.
It's a morbid thought and I don't entertain it. I push it aside with, he's here now.
Mostly it's really hard to get mad at a spouse (I totally still do) who you're really just glad is still alive.
In Bible Study today they do this thing or they want us to do this thing called God dots, and think about all the ways that you see God present in your life.
It was a miracle that they found this. It was perfect timing that Lew went to the doctor on that day, which his heart only slightly enlarged, but with trouble enough to hear the murmur. It was perfect timing that he had the surgery, and because his heart wasn't too damaged by the disrupted flow, he can live a normal life. Most heart surgery patients are on mountains of medications to keep their hearts pumping.
When two weeks later my parents came to visit and just happened to be there when Chalupa had to be hospitalized with RSV. He could have gotten sick any time. But he didn't. He got sick when my parents were here and I was able to take him to the doctor and the hospital without too much stress and without dragging G.
At Thanksgiving when my car started having trouble. It broke down 5 minutes before I got to our destination. Five minutes away from my Dad. Who took care of the whole thing for me. It didn't have to happen that way. It could have broken down hundreds of miles from anywhere. I spent 6 hours on the road. But it didn't. It happened five minutes from my dad.
The day of the surgery. Right before I was to walk back and see Lewis for the first time post op. I had had no warning and there was a bit of a breakdown in communication so no one told me what to expect. Our dear friend and Lew's cardiologist showed up in the elevator right as I was turning the corner to go see him in his room. The cardiologist walked back there with me and was there when I saw him on the ventilator and about ... okay when I did break down. He explained it all to me. He tried to make me feel better. He didn't have to show up that day at all. He had no way of knowing what time to be there. When he'd be needed. But he showed up at the exact right moment.
I know many would see all of these as happy coincidences. I see them all as the hand of God in my life during one of the most difficult periods in my life. At the time I just was sad and stressed and angry that all of these little stupid penny ante things kept happening. How dare the car break now! Doesn't it know I'm dealing with heart surgery! But if they had to happen, they happened in the best possible way. And I know that was divinely inspired.
This whole story. This whole thing ... weighs on me all the time. When I hear people complaining I think ... don't you know how blessed you are! When I hear myself complaining ... we can survive anything as long as we're healthy. It doesn't stop me from complaining. But it does give some perspective.
So last year after dealing with this for most of his life, he asked me to ask G's GI doctor who they would recommend for adults. Well they have two adult doctors at the practice. I picked one and made the appointment.
That was last September.
At that appointment the doctor said you need an endoscopy. Then he did a standard check to clear him for surgery. He found a heart murmur. Lew called me on the way home and I joked because I had just read on line that everyone has heart murmurs. A good friend of mine has one that she gets checked but it's no big deal. Something like 70% of the country has "innocent" heart murmurs. No big deal.
He made an appointment with our friend the cardiologist so we could find out it was nothing and he could have the endoscopy and get rid of the pesky hiccups. Bonus that he got to hang out with our friend! We had spent the better part of the summer living in their house while we were between houses. It was funny that he would see him again as a patient. He's been our landlord and our doctor! Too funny!
He goes to see him. He listens. Sets up the stress test. Lew calls me on the way home.
It's not an innocent heart murmur. He has to go back for a sonogram to see what's going on.
On the day of that appointment, I told him to have him text me the exact name of the issue and the exact name of the treatment. I was going to google.
At 12noon as I was feeding my one month old baby I recieved this text:
Mitral Valve Prolapse. Severe Regurgitation. Open Heart Surgery.
I about threw up all over my baby. But it was a mixed blessing that I was holding him in that moment, because I could not freak out. I'd disturb him. And I'm one that tries very hard to hold it together for the kids.
For the next few days we lived in a haze. Talking with the cardiologist office and figuring out which of the available surgeons we were going to use. Lew, upon hearing that it was open heart surgery said, there has to be another way. And so the doctor said, Actually, there is. There are these two doctors in town that can do it thoracically. So we appealed to their offices to get on their schedules.
I think it was a month later? We were able to be seen. I got a sitter for the kids so I could go to the appointment too. We listen to the surgeon. Yup, he needs surgery. Okay. When can we do it? Sooner the better. How long will he be out? Normal recovery time is 6-10 weeks to be up and mobile again. But he's so young, it may be as short as two weeks.
It will take a year to fully recover.
The surgery was set for January 4th. It was done. I don't want to talk about it. We lived through it. We lived.
He is better. The surgery fixed him.
Had he not gone to the doctor on that day last September, the valve that was broken and allowing blood to flow the wrong way through his heart ... would have kept doing that. His heart would have kept growing. It would have grown to the point that if he had gone to the gym one day, lets say just a year later ... if he had gone to the gym at 34. He could have had a heart attack.
He could have been one of those stories that you heart about; young man dies leaving young family. Everyone shocked. No outward symptoms. Just a congential heart defect that no one ever knew about.
I tell you this story now because I'm sort of just now getting to the point that I can tell it, really, and appreciate it for the blessing it is. Then, a year ago, it felt like the worst joke. The worst most horrible news ever. My husband was 33. He had a new baby. This could not be happening.
I still get upset. Because yes it's fixed. But what has it done to his life expentency.
It's a morbid thought and I don't entertain it. I push it aside with, he's here now.
Mostly it's really hard to get mad at a spouse (I totally still do) who you're really just glad is still alive.
In Bible Study today they do this thing or they want us to do this thing called God dots, and think about all the ways that you see God present in your life.
It was a miracle that they found this. It was perfect timing that Lew went to the doctor on that day, which his heart only slightly enlarged, but with trouble enough to hear the murmur. It was perfect timing that he had the surgery, and because his heart wasn't too damaged by the disrupted flow, he can live a normal life. Most heart surgery patients are on mountains of medications to keep their hearts pumping.
When two weeks later my parents came to visit and just happened to be there when Chalupa had to be hospitalized with RSV. He could have gotten sick any time. But he didn't. He got sick when my parents were here and I was able to take him to the doctor and the hospital without too much stress and without dragging G.
At Thanksgiving when my car started having trouble. It broke down 5 minutes before I got to our destination. Five minutes away from my Dad. Who took care of the whole thing for me. It didn't have to happen that way. It could have broken down hundreds of miles from anywhere. I spent 6 hours on the road. But it didn't. It happened five minutes from my dad.
The day of the surgery. Right before I was to walk back and see Lewis for the first time post op. I had had no warning and there was a bit of a breakdown in communication so no one told me what to expect. Our dear friend and Lew's cardiologist showed up in the elevator right as I was turning the corner to go see him in his room. The cardiologist walked back there with me and was there when I saw him on the ventilator and about ... okay when I did break down. He explained it all to me. He tried to make me feel better. He didn't have to show up that day at all. He had no way of knowing what time to be there. When he'd be needed. But he showed up at the exact right moment.
I know many would see all of these as happy coincidences. I see them all as the hand of God in my life during one of the most difficult periods in my life. At the time I just was sad and stressed and angry that all of these little stupid penny ante things kept happening. How dare the car break now! Doesn't it know I'm dealing with heart surgery! But if they had to happen, they happened in the best possible way. And I know that was divinely inspired.
This whole story. This whole thing ... weighs on me all the time. When I hear people complaining I think ... don't you know how blessed you are! When I hear myself complaining ... we can survive anything as long as we're healthy. It doesn't stop me from complaining. But it does give some perspective.
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