My experience with open heart surgery

Growing up I was always the smallest in all my classes at school, Out of all my friends I was always the one who looked five times younger than everyone else. I always thought this was normal; that I would just shoot up during puberty and be and be as tall as everyone else.
High school came and I still wasn't progressing like I should have been but we all just put it down to late puberty.

At the age of 13 I was told I had a heart murmur and I should go in for testing just to make sure it was nothing we had to worry about. Several tests later; including ECGS, Ecos, Blood tests, Bone age x-rays and a small electric shock test that they called the 'sweat test'. My parents and I were told I had a hole in my heart which required an ASD repair (Atrial Septal Defect).

There a four chambers in the heart; two with solid walls and two with little 'door like openings' that are in the centre. An ASD is basically a hole in the solid wall which meant my heart was working extra hard to keep me alive which therefore deprived me of being able to grow as well as everyone else was.

I was sent over to the Children's Hospital in Melbourne and at the stage was told it would only be keyhole surgery which meant less recovery time (and way less scary!!!). We got there only to be told the hole I had was alot bigger than they had originally thought. I was than swapped to Open Heart Surgery and my dad got flown over so that both my parents could be there.

My chest was cranked open and everything was fixed. My scars healed up well after having a minor infection from the big band aid they had to put over the 10cm cut and after a few days I had the two stitches under the scar taken out. We flew home and I was out from school for a few weeks before finally getting back into my normal life again.

I fought really hard through the next 3/4 years after my operation with my scar; I hated it, I felt embarrassed and just wanted to cover it all the time because I was going through puberty; having a big scar that was bright pink was REALLY not cool. Eventually I got over the embarrassment and have totally embraced it. I've decided not to show pictures of my scar just because it's on my chest and between my breasts which I don't really feel is appropraite to share.

I'm truly so thankful that my heart murmur was looked into because I can now have a long happy healthy life instead of a short lived life I may or may not have had. I'm thankful it wasn't a genetic thing that I could pass onto my children either! The reason I decided to share this is because if you ever think that something isn't right with yourself or your children ALWAYS get it looked into.