OK, I know that I mentioned here at then end of last year that my eldest DD had a large hole in the heart. It wasn't found until she was 16. Well, last week she had it fixed via a catheter in her leg. She has rewritten the text books, as it was 40mm in diameter (1/3 the size of her heart) and she had no symptoms ever! It was found at a routine medical for sports insurance. We had a new Dr and he was very concerned that a) we had no idea and b) that nothing had been done. It is very different here to the UK, where we were never told anything and not allowed to see your own medical notes, here we get a copy of absolutely everything - so no secrets here.
Anyway, it was fixed and it took longer than expected and more difficult than expected and she had 3 surgeons doing it! The clinic we went to is alleged to be one of the best in Europe if not the best. We are so grateful to all the staff and that we moved here. If it hadn't worked she was booked in for open heart surgery in the summer holidays, so thank goodness we don't have to wait for that.
I feel shocked now, we had 6 months of worry and awful day of stress when she was having the procedure. Yesterday she went back to Lycee (High school?) where she boards; today is only a week since she had it done. So life has returned to normal and I've fallen apart! I went to work this morning (I teach English) and started with a migraine, luckily I finish early, came home went to bed and slept. Just want to feel normal now, well, as normal as I can be!
Started on the Rescue Remedy (Bach flower remedies)so lets hope that kicks in......
We've been a very fortunate family, as we've never had to deal with anything like this before and my heart goes out to anyone who has to have regular dealing with hospitals, I don't know how they do it. Anyway, that will do for now. She has a check-up on the week-end, no sport for a month and then a normal life again. Really weird as she had no symptoms, had the op, still no reaction - they warned that she may have headaches, because of all the oxygen in her blood. When we think of the things that she has done, that she shouldn't have been able to like roller coasters, skiing, walking in mountains, cycling and swimming........etc
It sounds strange but I feel at a loss, last week we were together 24hrs a day and now she has gone back to school - talk about empty nest syndrome!
Thanks for listening!!!
Janner France