EclipseDS
Member
Hi all,
This is my first post in here. I can't thank my friend enough for referring me to this site.
My story is probably about the same as everybody else's. Back in the days, I used to be pretty active. I started feeling SOB about 18 yrs ago, which I thought was due to my being lazy and smoking. I smoked for about 2 years, nothing drastic, just half pack a day, stopped mid way thru college. High BP is what always stood up everytime I went to see a doctor, so I decided to get fit. Of course, that was a lot easier said than done as I manage to only lose 12 pounds in 3 years and some of those pounds came and went. I'm 5'9" and weighs about 183 now, used to be 194 lbs.
4 months ago, I started running on the thread mill and noticed I had an unsually hard time -SOB after 10~15 minutes. However, it gradually gotten better and I was able to stay on it for 45 minutes, at the end of it, I was gasping for air. I thought I was getting better and fitter -or so I thought.
My wife forced me to go see my doctor for a routine checkup. I didn't have one in the previous 2 years as I don't really have any complain. This was on 3/16 and the doctor heard a murmur plus an unsually high BP -154/71. EKG didn't show anything significant but scheduled me for an echocardiogram on 3/29. She called me on 4/8 and told me I need to see a cardiologist, after stating briefly the possibilities. I went to see Dr Louie on 4/15 and that's when he told me I have a severe Aortic valve regurgitation. I was crushed, this is not something I thought would even be remotely possible. I asked for a second opinion and got it on 4/26 from Dr Keane Lee -who confirmed the first findings. 4/28, I went to meet the surgeon, Dr. Mario Pompili. He wants it done within a month's time but I have to make sure everything is ready, so I asked to get operated on 6/29/2011. This is going to be in kaiser Santa Clara, CA, BTW.
Everything was happening so fast, I hardly had time to catch my breath. I came from not feeling any symptoms (aside from SOB) to going under the knife. I was crushed, shocked and in denial. But I slowly started accepting it. And thank God, I found this community. This is the single most important thing I discovered ever since I came to know about my condition. The recollections, advices and insights prove to be quite valueable. And finding out that quite a few have walked the path I'm taking now, somewhat lessens my burden. Thank you all.
-Eli
This is my first post in here. I can't thank my friend enough for referring me to this site.
My story is probably about the same as everybody else's. Back in the days, I used to be pretty active. I started feeling SOB about 18 yrs ago, which I thought was due to my being lazy and smoking. I smoked for about 2 years, nothing drastic, just half pack a day, stopped mid way thru college. High BP is what always stood up everytime I went to see a doctor, so I decided to get fit. Of course, that was a lot easier said than done as I manage to only lose 12 pounds in 3 years and some of those pounds came and went. I'm 5'9" and weighs about 183 now, used to be 194 lbs.
4 months ago, I started running on the thread mill and noticed I had an unsually hard time -SOB after 10~15 minutes. However, it gradually gotten better and I was able to stay on it for 45 minutes, at the end of it, I was gasping for air. I thought I was getting better and fitter -or so I thought.
My wife forced me to go see my doctor for a routine checkup. I didn't have one in the previous 2 years as I don't really have any complain. This was on 3/16 and the doctor heard a murmur plus an unsually high BP -154/71. EKG didn't show anything significant but scheduled me for an echocardiogram on 3/29. She called me on 4/8 and told me I need to see a cardiologist, after stating briefly the possibilities. I went to see Dr Louie on 4/15 and that's when he told me I have a severe Aortic valve regurgitation. I was crushed, this is not something I thought would even be remotely possible. I asked for a second opinion and got it on 4/26 from Dr Keane Lee -who confirmed the first findings. 4/28, I went to meet the surgeon, Dr. Mario Pompili. He wants it done within a month's time but I have to make sure everything is ready, so I asked to get operated on 6/29/2011. This is going to be in kaiser Santa Clara, CA, BTW.
Everything was happening so fast, I hardly had time to catch my breath. I came from not feeling any symptoms (aside from SOB) to going under the knife. I was crushed, shocked and in denial. But I slowly started accepting it. And thank God, I found this community. This is the single most important thing I discovered ever since I came to know about my condition. The recollections, advices and insights prove to be quite valueable. And finding out that quite a few have walked the path I'm taking now, somewhat lessens my burden. Thank you all.
-Eli
