Life and Everything about it

It is now 3:50 AM and I have not slept yet. I guess nights like these are becoming my new normal. In two weeks from now, on May 22, 2024, I will be on the operating table for an open heart surgery. This will be my sixth open heart surgery. I’ve also had many other type of surgeries/more minor interventions due to my heart condition. Its been a trip!

I am born with a coarctation of the aorta. I always refer to it as a condition where my aorta, at birth, was shaped like an hourglass.

So the blood would be pumped from my heart, and when it got to the spot where my aorta was shrunk in like you see on an hourglass, the blood would go back towards my heart making my heart work harder to try to pump the blood through my arteries. That condition was discovered when I was only four weeks old. My mother thought I had a cold or a flu, as I was struggling to breathe, I was coughing, my lips were a little bit discoloured and I just seemed in discomfort. She then asked her friend to come over and take her and I to the hospital. She wanted to get me checked in case I needed an antibiotic for a cold or whatever the case may be.

This was back in 1977, so remember that there wasn’t any internet, google, or any other ways to figure out what may be going on medically with me , so I can only imagine that for my mom, seeing child in discomfort, her best option at that time was to take me to the hospital. Upon our arrival at the hospital, Dr. Leger was the pediatrician on duty and it didn’t take him long to figure out that I was not suffering from a cold or flu. In fact, he turned to my mom and he said to my mom “It’s much worse than a cold or a flu. I’m sorry to inform you, but your child is in heart failure, and we need to treat that to keep him alive. We are not sure what the outcome will be but we know that in order for him to have the best treatment. We will need to send him by ambulance to Halifax Nova Scotia, at the IWK Children’s Hospital.

That was the beginning of what became MY, “Story of the heart”.

Oft to see about getting sleep now…

Much Love

MB