Frances's Profile

I am a 61 year old resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and I work as a registered nurse in two middle schools in the North Allegheny School District. For as long as I can remember I was told I had a heart murmur, and that it was functional. When I was in nursing school in the 1980's (and before there was HIPAA) I would occasionally get a tap on the shoulder asking if I would allow the medical students or residents to listen to my murmur. I was always very accommodating with their requests as it promoted learning. Over the years the murmur became less functional and on a routine echocardiogram several years ago it was determined that I would need an aortic valve replacement. I have become subtlety but increasingly short of breath, more fatigued and have more irregular heart beats since that diagnosis was made. Last spring I had a prolonged episode of bigeminy, dizzy spells and profound fatigue. At times my pulse dropped to 34 because the pulse ox was only picking up the regular beats. It was difficult to keep up with these active and accident prone middle schoolers at that level of fatigue. Another echo was done but the cardiologist told me the stenosis wasn't severe enough yet to justify an AVR. A cardiac cath in July 2015 showed clean vessels, but increasing left ventricular hypertrophy and an aortic valve just shy of being severely restricted. I was told by the cardiologist at that time to increase my aerobic activity and come back in a year. I was tired, frustrated and finding more and more difficult to function on my job. My PCP advised that I get the opinion of a surgeon. A friend recommended a doctor at a different hospital than the one I had been going to. I saw him on 11/18/15 and after reviewing my prior tests he told me that there is really no advantage in waiting another year to address a valve that is already symptomatic and is on the cusp of being severely restricted. I will be having a TEE on Monday, 11/30/15 and after it is is reviewed, a surgical date will be set. I'm so looking forward to feeling better and having more energy. A big thanks to my cousin, Michael Shaughnessy, for directing me to this site. It's nice to have the understanding and support of people who have been through this themselves as my journey begins.