John Ritter

[Creed3]

Hi Kathy!

Hi Kathy!

I have always had borderline HBP. Never high enough to put me on any meds. Sometimes it was pretty normal for awhile and others it would be borderline hbp. I was told that I probably had a congenital weakness. My pregnancies progressed things much faster. They couldn't find anything else that would have caused it.
Docs say in about ten years they will have more tests that will be able to identify if it is a connective tissue disorder, but nothing really points to that being the case. They also want to check my children when testing becomes more accurate. To see if it may be a hereditary thing.



Take Care & God Bless!
Gail

 

[KimC]

Karylnn, wow, I am shocked to hear about your mother. Your poor father must have suffered a great deal. What a shock. And you ... I'm sorry. My mother is only a mile away and it brings me so much comfort. I bet you're on top of your own health be/c of your experience. I am so sorry for your loss.

Heartyone, so your key take away is to avoid rural hospitals? What's your story? (I think I can relate to some degree).

Ross, we know why you're here, and if you can't figure it out, then you must not be as smart as we think. BTW, what kind of computer do you have? What do you think is the best one out there? (I'm in the market). And finally, do you know how lucky you are to live near the Cleveland Clinic?

Rob, you're here for a reason and hopefully with some introspection, journaling and dreaming, you'll figure it out. If not that course, then a good beer and fishing rod will help! I'm glad you're here in VR.com!

Gail, I didn't know your dissection occurred postpartum. Yeesh. I don't like to read that! My family on my Mom's side is loaded w/ aortic valve disease. It could be Marfan's; they're (or were) very tall, lanky people. The Mayo Clinic has a good Marfan's program, BTW.

Re: John Ritter, I read while sitting in my doc's office (where else) that he was complaining of flu-like symptoms. He thought he had fever, (he was sweating) and an upset stomach.

Can you tell I can't sleep tonight! Not like me.

Best,

 

[Ross]

Ross, we know why you're here, and if you can't figure it out, then you must not be as smart as we think. BTW, what kind of computer do you have? What do you think is the best one out there? (I'm in the market). And finally, do you know how lucky you are to live near the Cleveland Clinic?

1. I keep telling you all that I'm not that smart. None of you believes that I guess.

2. I have a Gateway Performance 500 Intel Pentium 3 System. It's been good to me up until last week. This thing is now going on 5 years old.

3. Best on the market? How about lets ask what to stay away from? That would be eMachines, Compaq, some older HP systems.
Now a days it's pretty hard to say what's the best. If you build one yourself, that would be best, but it's not economically feasible currently. You can go to Dell or Gateway and walk out fairly cheaply with a nice system. Whatever you do, don't get a Celeron processor. For the money you spend you might as well have the Pentium 4 or AMD. The only thing I don't like about AMD is that they run hot. You need alot of cooling fans in the case to keep that thing from burning itself up.

4. 1 hour away from the Cleveland Clinic is not close nor do helicopters fly fast enough when you have a dissecting aneurysm.

 

[Granbonny]

Hey Rosso

Hey Rosso

Don't knock Compaq.. Mine is 3 years old.. Takes a lickin and keeps on tickin..I'm never had problems...Buy them at Radio shack..Bonnie

 

[Ross]

No offense Bon, but if you ever need to format and install your operating system again on that thing, don't call me! I tried to tell my friends mom about Compaqs and she didn't believe me until it happened to her. She had to take the thing into Radio Shack and have it sent out to be done. Grant you when they run right everything is just great, but if it gets sick, your in for a whole heap of trouble to get it to run right again.

 

[Granbonny]

My Compaq

My Compaq

I never let mine cool off..to get sick Runs 7/24.. Bon

 

[Creed3]

Hi Kim!

Hi Kim!

The whole idea that dissection can just occur out of the blue is completely terrifying. Once I found out what had really happened to me, I did a little research. Marfan's was everywhere I looked when I did a search on aortic dissection. Right away I thought maybe that is what I had, but once I read about it and talked to my docs, there is no way I have that. I am the total opposite of what Marfan's characteristics are. I am 5'2". Very short and petite. Docs say there are so many connective tissues out there it would be difficult to diagnose without some kind of test. Most of my docs think my situation was just a "fluke". Can you imagine, what a "fluke" Huh? My surgeon told me that once he was in there everything with my heart looked just fine except for the dissection/anuerysm and the prolapsed valve. There was nothing there to indicate any disease of any sort. All the specimens they took came back on the path as not being anything unusual.
You know I never really knew that much about Marfan's and some other similar disorders until this happened to me. It effects more people than you would think. It is good to know that there is a facility out there that does good work/research etc....regarding Marfan's.

Sorry, so long! Sometimes when I get going, I just can't stop...LOL!

Take Care & God Bless!
Gail

 

[Ross]

Speak on Sister Gail

We don't hear enough out of you anyhow!

 

[Creed3]

Hey Ross!

Hey Ross!

I seem to be so very busy these days. The kids, huband, work, church, house etc..etc...etc...LOL! Boy am I glad to be here to be able to do all this stuff. Eventhough I don't post as much as I used to, I always try to keep up with how everyone is doing. Every now and again a topic gets brought up where I can just ramble on and on and on and on and on......OOPS! I'm doing it again This board is definately a godsend. I thank Hank for this amazing site. I also thank you Ross for helping to keep things running smoothly. You do so much for us all and take such great care of us. I truely hope that we give you as much in return as you give out to us all.

Take Care & God Bless!
Gail

 

[heartyone]

Kim,

I wouldn't avoid community hospitals if I had a sore throat, but if my respiration ever is poor, good gosh don't take me near one.

My wife had terrific neck pain during one of her usual hyperactive sports moments and that night didn't feel too well. The next day still felt unwell and even worse with poor respiration the next. Her primary care physician diagnosed her with pneumonia and admitted her to the hospital. In my head, I knew it was not pneumonia but it took me 24 hours to hit the fan and pull her out AMA and drive her into the big city. The moment she hit the big city ER they performed an echo that revealed a gross aortic root aneurysm and dissection, with damage up into the arches. It took them 6 days to stabilize her for surgery and even then took her in under tenuous circumstances.

Good Lord, she survived and survived well, receiving a mechanical aortic valve, dacron arch and branches and a second chance at life that she hasn't truly grasped yet but is doing pretty darn well at. She did not have high blood pressure, smoke or drink and was probably the most active, fit person I know. It's ironic that alot of her lifestyle of pushing her body and cardio to the limit probably contributed to the dissection. Excercising her heart on a challenging daily basis she thought was good--but, she didn't know she had the aneurysm. She's the bravest person I know.

I should add that for the 14 months before the surgery she did not feel well and in fact visited her PCP 3 times for exhaustion. Because she's such a healthy specimen, her complaints were pretty well ignored, as well as her family history of many sudden cardiac deaths (now we know all marfans-related).

So, yes, those people here who have survived dissection are truly a lucky clan. I've often thought I'd like to climb into my wife's head to see what it feels like to be her. She won't let me, will you?

 

[Granbonny]

My aneurysm

My aneurysm

I had been a very healthy person..but when My Mom died..I felt very depressed..Would not tell my family. On Xmas Day..I was running up and down steps to load presents into car. Had a very funny feeling. Told my family and they took me to ER..On Xmas Day. Many tests run..but all tests were normal. The ER doctor on call..asked me to come and see him. I did..He ran every test on me.. All normal. but then..about 3 months later. he asked me to go to see a cardiologist. He ran some tests, had a cath of heart and was told..I had an aneurysm. Had my surgery 3 days later. No symptoms..of SOB..ect. I was at a 5..time to replace or burst. I have no family history of aneurysm's. My Dad is age 90..doing great. and all Grandparents lived into their 90's too. Why, mine came..no reason...but can happen Wish there were a test for aneurysms....Could save a lot of lives. Bonnie

 

[KimC]

Wow, Heartyone. What a story. Thanks for sharing it. You sound like an adoring husband. If I may be so bold to say, your wife is a lucky woman in so many ways.

My health insurance dropped my local hospital, so if I really need it, my family will shell out the dough to fly me to the Big City, ideally Cleveland. I doubt if I'll ever have to go that route, but if I do, I will not put my life in my local cardio's hands.

Overconditioning contributed to my heart problems, too. I now have exercise limits, which is new, and another adjustment: I love the feeling of being fit, fast and flexible.

I'll have to live with being fit, flexible and ALIVE!

Cheers,

 

[Davidcv67]

To cut or not to cut THAT is the question!

To cut or not to cut THAT is the question!

This really freaks me out...all this talk about dissections. I do have Marfans and I have a dissection running all up into my Cartiod Artories and all the way down to my legs. I think one day I am just going to plop over dead. I do not want to die!!

There is a surgery called 'Elephant trunk procedure' to repair the whole thing but it is a MAJOR surgery...do I go for it even though I am healthy? Or do I take my chances and hope I can live this thing through.

I am flipping a coin right now, heads I do it....hold on...

Hmmmm it was heads...I relly thought it would be tails.

Dave

 

[Nancy]

Dave-

Have you thought about having a consultation at Cleveland Clinic? Maybe they could steer you in the right direction. You've got a special situation there.