The Bum Ticker
or, How I Got a Valve Job and a New Fuel Line
The Bum Ticker
or, How I Got a Valve Job and a New Fuel LineDecember 20, 2011
Before you get started, there are a few things you should be aware of. This journal was written in the relatively early days of the internet and on an on-going basis over several years. I guess you could say it is a "pre-blog, blog". Some of the links to other sites, may no longer be valid. Over the years from time to time I attempt to update and correct things that are out of date or really irrelevant to the story. But it's a slow process and I hope you will bear with me.October 28th, 1998
Well here goes. The start of the journal I promised myself I would keep during this episode in my life. I keep thinking it would be good therapy for me, and possibly others, who are about to go through open heart surgery of some sort. It is also for my dear friends and family who want to keep track of how I'm doing.
11:00 am: Here I am, literally sitting in my office at work waiting for the phone call that will tell me the date of my operation. I was told to expect to go in the first week of November and that they will let me know the Wednesday beforehand. Well today's Wednesday. Let's get this show on the road. I'm ready. This waiting game is making all of us (wife, family, friends) crazy.
Some Personal Background
I am 44 years old, don't smoke, not overweight, very active, but do not really do any fitness activities or sports. I run a relatively small property management company in Toronto and play and record music for fun and for the love of the art. Married, no kids, two dogs.
This whole thing started when I went to see Dr. Michael Gould at Women's College Hospital for a problem I had swallowing. (From time to time food got stuck in my esophagus.)
The first thing he did was listen to my chest. Over and over again. He kept shaking his head. Finally he said there was something wrong in there around my heart. Before he would even attempt to do anything about my swallowing problem, I should get my heart checked out. He referred me to Dr. Drobac at WCH for an ECG on Oct 22nd and the results were sent to my GP, Dr. Bernie Marlow.
Dr. Marlow listened to my chest and confirmed that there was a very loud murmur. He said it was definitely not there when I had my physical back in January. It is so loud, there was no way he would have missed it. Marlow, a wonderful family doctor, referred me to cardiologist, Dr. Robert Wolfe.
I saw Dr. Wolfe and he explained that I had an enlarged (dilated) aorta which was causing my aortic valve to leak blood back into my heart. Thus the murmur. The heart was not working as efficiently as it should. Despite that fact that I have no real recognizable or obvious symptoms. I feel fine like I always have. He said at this point it was nothing to worry about, but just to be safe he wanted to run a series of tests to actually determine how badly the aorta was dilated.
Sorry to interrupt your reading, but if you are enjoying this journal so far, then you'd probably enjoy my music as well. Please check out my music site, listen to some sample sound clips of my songs and please order one of my CD's. I'd really appreciate your support. Thanks, Steve.
Part 2 - The Tests