the heart circulates the blood through itself since the lungs are non functioning at that time. When you are born, the blood goes to the lungs that now work and in doing that, releases a sort of enzyme that tells the heart to seal that valve off. In the case of my father, the valve rebelled and didn't seal itself off. As you can tell, its not really detectable, well not way back then, so he lived 78 years not knowing it was there. For luck, his doctor decided to have the test done that checks for it and guess what they found???? So, on the 31st, he will be going into surgery to have the hole fixed. The importance behind fixing it is the fact that for years, 40% of all strokes were from undetermined cause. It is now known that this is the cause of that 40%. There are a few ways to fix it. My father has chosen the least of the "evils" as a way to go. They will go in through an artery in his leg and place a "patch" over the hole to effectively seal it off thus preventing or minimizing the chance of a stroke. Am I worried? Yes. But I have faith that this will go well and he will live on for many more moons! Seems like none of my postings anymore are about fun exciting things. Guess I had better get off my ass and get out and do something. Spring had showed up last week, but the 8 inches of new snow on my lawn tell me its still a ways off..... dammit! Hopefully it will come soon..... till next time.... JEEP ON!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Unkind surprises
Where to begin? It seems that life has dealt our family another trial to weather, so to speak. My father has suffered from dizzy spells the last few years and finally the reason has been brought to light. It seems that when he was born, the little " patent foramen ovale didn't seal up. When you are in the womb,
the heart circulates the blood through itself since the lungs are non functioning at that time. When you are born, the blood goes to the lungs that now work and in doing that, releases a sort of enzyme that tells the heart to seal that valve off. In the case of my father, the valve rebelled and didn't seal itself off. As you can tell, its not really detectable, well not way back then, so he lived 78 years not knowing it was there. For luck, his doctor decided to have the test done that checks for it and guess what they found???? So, on the 31st, he will be going into surgery to have the hole fixed. The importance behind fixing it is the fact that for years, 40% of all strokes were from undetermined cause. It is now known that this is the cause of that 40%. There are a few ways to fix it. My father has chosen the least of the "evils" as a way to go. They will go in through an artery in his leg and place a "patch" over the hole to effectively seal it off thus preventing or minimizing the chance of a stroke. Am I worried? Yes. But I have faith that this will go well and he will live on for many more moons! Seems like none of my postings anymore are about fun exciting things. Guess I had better get off my ass and get out and do something. Spring had showed up last week, but the 8 inches of new snow on my lawn tell me its still a ways off..... dammit! Hopefully it will come soon..... till next time.... JEEP ON!
the heart circulates the blood through itself since the lungs are non functioning at that time. When you are born, the blood goes to the lungs that now work and in doing that, releases a sort of enzyme that tells the heart to seal that valve off. In the case of my father, the valve rebelled and didn't seal itself off. As you can tell, its not really detectable, well not way back then, so he lived 78 years not knowing it was there. For luck, his doctor decided to have the test done that checks for it and guess what they found???? So, on the 31st, he will be going into surgery to have the hole fixed. The importance behind fixing it is the fact that for years, 40% of all strokes were from undetermined cause. It is now known that this is the cause of that 40%. There are a few ways to fix it. My father has chosen the least of the "evils" as a way to go. They will go in through an artery in his leg and place a "patch" over the hole to effectively seal it off thus preventing or minimizing the chance of a stroke. Am I worried? Yes. But I have faith that this will go well and he will live on for many more moons! Seems like none of my postings anymore are about fun exciting things. Guess I had better get off my ass and get out and do something. Spring had showed up last week, but the 8 inches of new snow on my lawn tell me its still a ways off..... dammit! Hopefully it will come soon..... till next time.... JEEP ON!
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Good luck to your father! We'll keep him in our prayers.
ReplyDeleteHope all goes well with your dad!
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