Opening My Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

70 per cent; it represents the portion of blood volume ejected from the heart with each heartbeat.
    As for second opinions, in my particular case, there is a consensus. If left untreated, my heart condition will only worsen. “Once a patient becomes symptomatic, the likelihood of sudden death within a year is more than 50 per cent.” Furthermore, cardiac arrest in the patient with aortic stenosis resists all resuscitation attempts. (Well, sudden death has got to be preferable to the slow, tortuous deaths I’ve witnessed in the ICU . Here’s my chance to find out.) There is no medical treatment for my condition, only surgery will correct it. Want to know the most common risk factor in heart disease? It’s denial. (Sound like anyone you know? I guess I’m not in denial anymore.) “Without surgery, three-quarters of patients die within three years of symptom onset.”
    But there’s good news, too: “Surgery restores a normal life expectancy and improved quality of life in the majority of patients.” And there’s a great deal of comfort to be found in the patient blogs that offer information, companionship, and commiseration. Reading other people’s posts, I feel part of a supportive community, even though their stories range from reassuring to disturbing. There are inspiring accounts of patients who’ve gone on to run marathons and climb Mount Everest alongside reports of debilitating cardiac depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome in which they experienced disturbing flashbacks and nightmares post-operatively. Sprinkled throughout are interesting tidbits such as the blogger who received a pig heart valve from a surgeon named Dr. Swineheart (!), a chatroom group discussing the challenges of finding a comfortable bra after cardiac surgery (front-closing is best), and a posting on eBay (with severalbids) for a prosthetic heart valve – now that’s extreme DIY! I discover that California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had a valve replacement – ditto for hockey player Teppo Numminem, a defenceman for the Buffalo Sabres who now, a year after his surgery, is back on the ice, re-signed with the team. * Another interesting factoid: my clever strategy of stopping to chat or feign interest so that I can catch my breath is a compensatory mechanism called
schaufenster shauen
, apparently used by many ingenious cardiac patients!
    Everything I read corroborates what Dr. Drobac told me, but I know sometimes doctors withhold information so as not to worry patients. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” can be their MO . They may give a soft spin, keeping back certain details. But the Internet doesn’t hold back. It lays it out there in a harrowing onslaught of TMI – Too Much Information. It makes me waver between thinking, “Ignorance is bliss” and “Knowledge is power.” I’ve gone from wanting to know nothing to devouring as much information as possible. The more I read, the worse I feel, yet I forge on, trying to stay on reliable, evidence-based sites.
    Other than Mary, I don’t feel ready to tell anyone else – especially not Vanessa, who is also a very close friend but coincidentally is dealing with her husband’s heart problems right now. Steven’s heart was damaged by radiation he received years ago for cancer. I don’t want to add to her worry, yet I knowingly added to his when I visited him in the hospital a few months ago.
    “I have something wrong with my heart, too,” I blurted out, suddenly compelled to share my secret with him, feeling certain he would understand.
    “Take care of it,” he said. “You have something that can be fixed.”
    Not like me
, he didn’t say. That was two weeks before Max’s ear infection, which has long since resolved. Needless to say, my problem hasn’t, nor has Steven’s.
    As for other friends, I can’t tell them. Robyn will worry and Joy will be critical and unsympathetic. For years, she’s been nagging me to take better care of myself. She goes for annual