Open Heart Surgery

Post three operations, recovery went well, my body grew stronger and healthier with each passing month. A seven inch scar starts from under the arm-pit and wraps around the right chest as a reminder of this event. (It's actually pretty cool. There are several inch-long scars crossing over the longer scar resembling what Frankenstein might have.)
When it came time for check-ups at the cardiology clinic, my mom would hold me in the waiting room and watch all the other mothers with babies that were frail, tiny, and struggling to survive their condition.

4 years old

My parents moved to Provo, Utah when I had turned 2 and at the time went to see a new doctor, finding that they were unable to get a heart catheter through the femoral artery in my right leg. The heart catheters performed during the surgeries and procedures in my young months had completely damaged the artery. They advised my parents to watch that leg, to make sure it grew properly, as well as didn't discolor from loss of blood flow. Fortunately, the smaller veins branched out around the artery. Like when a canal becomes blocked - the water finds another way to get around. This is the same with blood...it will find a way through the blockage if possible.

During the 3 year check-up, it was determined that there needed to be a final repair. And it needed to wait until 4 years of age so that an adult aorta could be used for the repair of the valve, therefore preventing the need for any future surgeries.
Overriding aorta − the aortic valve is enlarged and appears to arise from both the left and right ventricles instead of the left ventricle as in normal hearts

waiting to be taken back for surgery prep

Soon after my fourth birthday, we arrived at Primary Children's Hospital July 4th where the final repair of Tetralogy of Fallot was to take place. From the hospital room, admitted and anxiously waiting, we sat together and watched fireworks from the window. The morning of July 5th brought the worry of what would lie ahead this go around, and if there would be the same traumatic experience similar to the multiple repairs at 10 months.

While in surgery, the cardiology surgeon found that the narrowed pulmonary valve was actually underneath the aorta, not above as it should be, which meant that they could not just replace the narrowed part of the valve, but had to instead bypass the repair by going over the top of the aorta (think of it like a bridge.). This proved extremely successful, the surgery outcome having no complications and after only a week in the hospital, the doctor released us to go home.


Only 5 weeks post surgery, I went out back while at my grandma's house to play on the old swingset (y'know, those ones that had the really thick metal crossbar?) and climbed to the top. With monkey-like dexterity and agility that only Spiderman knows, I gripped that crossbar and giggled with child-like abandon. Then I fell.
5 weeks post open-heart surgery I broke my arm.
Children are resilient.

At this point in time, my health had improved so exponentially that the surgeon happily told my parents that there were to be no life-long limitations or restrictions. I was to enjoy all facets of life as any normal, non-CHD person should.
This doctor was an excellent, knowledgeable man, however, he was strictly a pediatric cardiologist, therefore, his experience with adult patients was  non-existent. For quite some time, I went on as any normal, heart-healthy person, however, there would eventually come a day that I would learn the truth about Tetralogy of Fallot, and the complications that arise. You see, TOF was not meant to be survived, and now that modern science proved to prolong the life and the heart, there was a catch. There always is.