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Leanne's StoryHi, my name is Leanne, I'm nineteen years old and on the 22nd February 2007 I had a double heart by-pass. I'm telling 'my story' because I would have found comfort, reading that younger people have this operation. The history.....in a nutshell. As a result of having Kawasaki disease as a child of six weeks, I found myself in a position where I would have to have an operation. Kawasaki disease is a viral infection. When I was six weeks old I was left with aneurysms (swellings in the artery). Initially I had five aneurysms but by the time I was two years old, I only had two; my body had corrected its imperfections. The worry with aneurysms is that in time, calcium is formed around them. There would be a blockage in my artery. I have always been monitored by the hospital, having regular consultations every six months; though I did have two aneurysms. My consultant was only really concerned with the aneurysm on my left coronary artery. From an age where I was young, my parents had been told that I would need a heart by-pass, once I reached sixteen and when I was fully grown. However, sixteen came and we were told that for the time being, they wouldn't operate. I went to Guy's hospital, London, for a second opinion but they too agreed with my consultant Two and a half years later.... I went for a routine check up in June 2006. It's funny looking back because the doctor I saw wasn't even going to perform my routine scan during this consultation ( he said I was fine, personally I feel he should have been on TV if he was able to see the heart through skin) but I said that since I had come for the check-up, I wanted a scan. That's when he said ''oh, I think there may have been changes, we'll arrange an MR scan'' (good job I made sure it was performed hey)?! So I went for an MR scan in Stoke in July. From the results of the MR scan, my consultant thought that the operation was needed but arranged an angiogram just to make sure. On December the 11th I had the test, my consultant said it was worse than first thought because my arteries were 70-80% blocked and although heart by-passes are fairly routine, he had never corrected aneurysms of this type before; and my nightmare began. The nightmare.... I really don’t know how I'd have coped from December to February without the support of my family, boyfriend and friends. It was an awful time, I'll be honest, because you don’t know how things will go, and at the end of the day it is a massive operation on the main organ of the body. I'm in the second year of training to be a nurse so I know its a common operation nowadays but that really is no comfort at all! I kept myself as busy as possible before my operation, I even sat an exam two days before it ( which I passed-63%, God knows how I did that)! My mum wanted me to finish my placement two weeks before the operation which I know was a sensible idea but I'd have driven myself mad with worry if I'd been sat doing nothing, keeping busy was my way of coping, when I wasn't busy, that's when I started thinking and getting upset. A tip is to write down all your worries and concerns which can be addressed and let the nursing team know how you want your care to be managed. One of the nurses from the cardiac liaison team at the children's hospital I use to attend visited my house. We sat down together and made a list of everything that was a worry to me, a list of worries that could be addressed and that we that we could do something about. For example, I was really worried that I may be in a lot of pain after my operation ( a man I once worked for, told me that he had a by-pass and that it was the most painful thing he had ever known) therefore I wrote down how I wanted my pain to be managed. In all honesty I can say that although the operation isn’t a walk in the park, my pain was kept to a minimum through pain control. D-day. I remember a nurse from the cardiac team saying ''your operation will come round so quickly that you'll get home and think, wow is it all done''. At the time I thought, yeh, love, easy for you to say but she was right to be honest. I went in the day before for my pre-admission but I was allowed to go for a meal with my family at night (and was allowed a cider which helped loads)! So by the time we got back to hospital I just had to have a shower and go to sleep. One of the things that the cardiac nurse had arranged after she visited me at home was for my mum to stay with me the night before; which, because of my age, she was allowed to do. I didn’t sleep very well that night at all but was so relieved that my mum was with me so I could talk to her, I even remember i told her what song i wanted at my funeral, just in case. To try and help ease things, we decided to play a game of pretend. I pretended that I was having grommets not a by-pass; I know it sounds daft but it worked a little bit. As I was the first on the days operating list, I was due to be down in the operating theatre at eight Am. I had a shower and then was given my first pre-med. The nurse gave me my pre - med; gas through an oxygen mask and oral medication. I can’t describe how I felt that morning, just sick with nerves, even then though it still didn't feel real. The porter came and I was wheeled to theatre; I had already arranged with the cardiac nurse that I wanted my mum to come to the anaesthetic room with me. The last thing I remember was my mum telling me she loved me then that it was just grommets. After care. I won’t go on about the after care 'cos there isn’t really much to say. I remember waking up for a few moments in intensive care and seeing my family. I was on intensive care for a day, then i went to high dependency unit and then by Saturday night I was on the ward and home Tuesday! I felt instantly a hundred times better being at home and being waited on hand and foot isn’t too bad. After a week though, I got fed up, usually I’m always on the go and not being even able to lift a kettle does get you down. A month on I feel more or less back to normal to be honest which is why i get so frustrated because I can't do normal things yet. I have my good days and my bad days and I have been a real pain to live with this month; i think it's just when you speak to mates and they say their going out clubbing or doing this and that and i feel a bit sorry for myself. But, I snap out of it ‘cos at the end of the day, I’m very lucky, the operation was a complete success and in another three months, I’ll be able to do all those things again, just this time, I’ll appreciate them more. If you're reading this and want to chat to my privately feel free to ask Sue for my email address. I hope I’ve helped a little bit. Leanne X x You are here: Home >> Your Stories >> Leanne's Story |
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