My Heart Cath Journey 2019

My Heart Cath Journey 2019

I'm ready to finally open up & talk about how my past week has gone! I recently just went through a Heart Catheterization procedure or just say Heart Cath it's a lot more simple. The American Heart Association's definition of a Heart Catheterization is a procedure to examine how well your heart is working. A thin, hollow tube called a catheter is inserted into a large blood vessel (they do mine through my legs) that leads to your heart. 

I've had a ton of caths throughout my life! My last one was 10 years ago at the age of 11 which they put in a stent in my artery to help my blood flow. I was born with a 3 chambers to my heart instead of 4 & have had 3 major heart surgeries. 2 of them were done when I was a baby & the other one was done when I was about 3 or 4 years old. The chamber that isn't working is my left ventricle. The names of my surgeries have been called a Glenn & a Fontan.

About a month ago I went in for a CT Scan in San Antonio & they discovered that they were going to evaluate the artery where my stent was put 10 years ago. That artery is very narrow. The main reason why I had this recent cath was to evaluate the pressures in my heart & make sure everything is functioning properly. Many cardiologists I've gone to throughout my life that I am in a small percentile of patients who have had the Fontan surgery that do very well. As my grandma use to tell me, "You are such a miracle!".

For the past couple of months I had been complaining of on & off chest paints & fast heart beats. I think stress was a main factor & I knew eventually another cath was going to happen soon since it had been so long since my last cath. I knew it was more than just stress! The big wake up call was I was at a concert in February with my mom & I had been drinking but I've learned as a 21 year old that with my anatomy I have to be super careful how much alcohol I have. 

I didn't have a ton to drink but during the concert I was sipping on a drink & I noticed my heart beats being super fast to the point where it was super painful. I immediately sat down & asked my mom to get me some water. I had some water & I noticed the pain wasn't going away. The pain lasted for a good 2 weeks & as I noticed it wasn't getting better I scheduled a cardiology appointment to look more into why this was happening.

I didn't schedule the appointment with my pediatric cardiologist even though I could have easily stuck with continuing to go to that cardiologist & I made the decision to get referred to a cardiologist who specializes in adults with congenital heart defects which was the best decision I made of myself in my heart journey. I described to the cardiologist what was going on & he put me on a 48 hour heart monitor & they advised me to do normal activity like work & going out with friends to see what is causing the pain. 

While I had the monitor on I was allowed to record some of the episodes of pain I had been having so I recorded several episodes throughout that time. When we got those results back several weeks later the episodes I had recorded weren't being shown as anything serious. Several weeks after that the cardiologist scheduled me for an exercise test & a CT Scan to simply have the cardiologist get to know my anatomy better. 

The results mostly came out very positive! My exercise test results came out normal for someone with my anatomy which stunned me even though I work out & go to the gym just simply to keep my heart healthy I slack off & get very tired & lazy easily! The CT Scan results were really the only thing they were going to look into & they had called me several weeks later & they said it was best they did the cath as soon as possible while my anatomy was in a good state before anything super serious came up. 

I knew that the time was ticking for another cath I've been having that weird gut feeling for months! I think the main cause for the pains & fast heart beats were mainly from stress but someone with my anatomy needs to be careful of that & alert at all times! I was super nervous about this cath because it had been so long since my last one! I was so afraid they were going to find something serious & end up having to cut me open & do a open heart surgery.

Whenever I found out about the cath I originally was going to keep it to myself & a small group of family & close friends. Throughout my childhood my heart problems were made super apparent. I can remember the many times I had to sit out at PE from flag football & just very contact sports & activities. I was that one kid in elementary that would be the last person to finish running that lap abound the field or gym just from the fact that my heart would get super exhausted. I wasn't allowed to do anything super athletic when I was younger. Throughout elementary though I was in ballet which was an excellent way for me to have stayed active & healthy throughout my childhood! I'll always be thankful I had ballet in my life!

It was in middle school that I really didn't open up about my heart problems as much & I just started keeping it to myself because I was afraid to be looked at differently or be judged because of it. Of course I have a huge scar on my chest that pretty much makes it obvious that I have had some type of heart surgery. When people would ask me about it throughout middle school & high school I was open enough to tell them but then I would quickly change the subject so I wouldn't be looked at super differently from everyone else because I wanted to be seen as normal so badly which to be honest no one is truly "normal". We all have scars whether it's on your chest or a mental scar. Everyone has a story.

I wasn't a huge partier in middle or high school just from the fact alone that I had to keep my heart healthy. I can have a drink every now & then but I was always told it would be super dangerous on my heart to smoke or do any type of drugs. I didn't wanna admit to people that's why I couldn't join their smoking sessions. I was often seen as a goody good that never broke rules because I wasn't the one at 16 out partying getting black out drunk or super high.

The older I got & the more confident I got I knew eventually I wanted to come open about my heart journey. The night before my cath I made the courageous to decision to not only post on Facebook to my close family & friends about my cath but I posted it on Twitter as well.Click here to see how I finally opened up about my cath! I maybe expected 4 responses but I was truly blown away by how many responses I got. 

I had over 60 likes on Facebook. 34 retweets. 346 likes. A ton of replies. 7 Instagram DMs. Around 20 Snapchat messages. I was truly blown away from the sweet messages I was receiving. If someone had told the 13 year old me that I was going to open up about one of my procedures & have that many people have your back I would have been stunned. I'm still stunned. Y'all were the reason that I was so strong this week so I wanna thank y'all for having my back & believing in miracles. I truly appreciate it!

The day of the cath was April 3, 2019 (this past Wednesday). I was super super nervous! We had no idea what to expect! I was originally suppose to be on anesthesia & be knocked out like my other caths. They told me that morning I wasn't going to have it but I demanded that I would have some kind of numbing medication to put me to sleep & the anesthesiologist made sure I was as rested as possible. The reason they didn't put me on the anesthesia was they get better pressures if I breathed on my own & wait till what I'm about to tell y'all next!

I came out of the cath & they told me that pressures looked excellent & they didn't have to do extra work during the cath! I was so relieved! God is SOO GOOD!! It made me feel so good to know after all I've been through with my heart journey that I do very well with someone with my anatomy. Most patients with the surgeries I have had are either on oxygen tanks or they don't live a super long time so I thank God everyday for how much of a miracle all of this is. My faith is truly so strong because of how blessed I've been!

I think God has something so special for me & that's why I continue to be as blessed as I have been! Being open about my heart journey has truly changed my life & I want to continue to be open about it & sharing more of my stories with y'all!

I just want to thank y'all so much for being here for me & being so sweet during this super stressful time!

I love & appreciate y'all so much!

This is part of who I am & the world deserves to know about what makes me the person that I am today!