10 Years Later

Amplatzer Device

It's hard to believe this year/month marks 10 years since I had my heart surgery. I had my 10 year check-up this afternoon and everything looks good. My heart is still going strong and the Amplatzer Device is still in place and doing its job. For those of you who may not know my story, in June 2003 I had heart surgery to fix an Atrial Septal defect (ASD) AKA a hole between two chambers in my heart. I found out about the hole thanks to my Primary Care Doctor. It was my first check-up with him, a required sports physical to play volleyball. During my physical he heard a murmur which I never knew about. The murmur led to more tests and consultations, which eventually lead to repairing the ASD. The crazy thing about the Amplatzer device is that it's a relatively knew device - doctors have been using the device less than 50 years. However, the awesome thing is doctors were able to fix my whole without cracking my ribs or doing anything invasive. The device gets as small as a pencil lead. It's put through a vein in the leg and snaked up to the heart where it is put in place. One side of the mess sits up against one side of the heart wall. The second side of mess expands on the other and bam!, the hole is filled. (Originally they thought my hole was the size of a dime, once inside it was about the size of a nickel.)

For the first time I got to see the device working while the nurse took my ECHO. Normally I don't pay much attention; they do their thing and I watch TV, but this nurse took time out to point out the device on the screen, which is now covered a little with tissue.

It's amazing the things people come up with and are able execute when it comes to medicine. I will always be grateful to my Primary Care Doctor for finding the murmur and my doctor who performed my surgery.