It was the summer before I started 6th grade; the last grade of middle school [FINALLY]. My sister and I always spent a few weeks in Georgia with our grandparents. My mom would always bring us down one weekend and then come back two weeks later. We always had fun, and thought that dollar general was the best thing ever. Back when we didn't have cell phones, or iPads, or any of that jazz. Good good memories.
So August of 2005 my mom had come down for the weekend to pick my sister and I up to head back home to Alabama. We had the typical weekend at Granny and PawPaws - playing outside, making meal orders for the day, being way too loud, playing in the garden and helping pick.... that's where finding a knot comes in.
I am the "problem" child. The one who always was/is sick and has a couple health issues. After running through the corn about 100 times and coming in for the night my mom noticed my chest was very red - as if I was breaking out from being in the corn - and as I was touching my chest I found a knot at the bottom of my diaphragm. We didn't think to much of it but mom mentioned we would see the pediatrician once we got back home.
Fast forward to going home, making the appointment, and finally we are at the doctor. Dr. Favort checked me out and stated she "believed it was just how I was growing, but lets get an x-ray just to be sure." So off the Children's Hospital of Alabama we went. Once we arrived we did the typical waiting, they called us back got the x-ray and then we were to wait, and that's when things changed.
I remember the doctor coming in and asking " does she have any breathing problems?" "Yes" my mom said "asthma". He left the room and then came back with another doctor. From there they explained that I was born with a Double Aortic Arch and that I would need to see a cardiologist. It was a lot at once. My mom and dad both had many questions.
Within a couple weeks of the x-ray and scheduling an appointment with a cardiologist it was finally the time to go and get this thing figured out. So remember how I said it was the summer of starting 6th grade? Well guess what decided to come for the first time the morning of all the testing with the cardiologist??? Yeah you guessed right, mother nature. I think my mom freaked out more than I did.
Children's of Alabama is the local hospital. We went there for testing. This day we met with a cardiologist and he explained I would go through a series of testing that day which included : a stress test, CT scan, and some x-rays.
We found out that afternoon after a long day that I indeed had a Double Aortic Arch. It is a congenital heart defect. It is VERY rare. The doctor informed us that at the time I could have it corrected, but that it wasn't necessary. My mom opted that I didn't have the surgery.
Fast-forward 11 years and August of 2016 I started always feeling choked and sometimes had a hard time swallowing. I let my GI know of my problem and she had me go for a barium swallow. The test showed that I didn't have anything wrong with my esophagus, but that it was the Double Aortic Arch causing me all of my problems and I was informed that I would need to have surgery to correct it.
After getting the news of needing major heart surgery I freaked out a little. At twenty-three that was not on my agenda and I was terrified. The next couple months would bring a lot more health problems and I will get to all of that on another post.
No comments:
Post a Comment