Louise and Co-arcation of the Aorta (CoA)
Louise is 27 years old and was born with CoA.
I asked Louise if she could write about "Living with
CHD". This is what Louise wrote:
I've been asked to write about my life living with
CHD for a website, which is raising peoples awareness about CHD.
 I'm 27 yrs old
now but it all started when I was 10 days old and I was rushed from my cot on a Birmingham
Maternity Ward to the Birmingham Children's Hospital Heart Unit (see picture on the right) where I was
diagnosed with a Co-arctation of the Aorta and given literally hrs to live due
to the seriousness of the condition.
Co-arctation of the aorta is the
narrowing of the aorta which is the artery that takes blood from the heart
around the rest of the body, so if that couldn't happen as you can imagine my
body wouldn't function. We are talking about 27 yrs ago when this happened,
when medical science wasn't what it is today and although the Doctors knew of my
condition, to perform this on a 10 day old baby was still a great risk.
During the operation I have been told I needed several blood transfusions, and
developed a hole in my heart and I was seriously ill. All of this of course, was
terrifying for my parents at the time, I was their first child and to see me
linked to machines keeping me alive, obviously no parent wants to go through that
at all. But I survived and I owe my life (quite literally to the work of the
surgeons and nurses at the Childrens Hospital). I am very lucky indeed that I
didn't need open heart surgery, it isn't till you look on my back that you see the scar
that tells you that something happened, I live with that and will always do and it
proves that against all odds I fought to live in this world.
I had another
operation when I was 7 yrs old to re-open the aorta which was called balloon
dilation, again it was done at the Birmingham Childrens Hosptial, and this was a
terrifying experience personally due to being a young girl in a big hospital
needing an operation, which at that time I didn't understand the reasoning behind
it. Sticking needles in my arms for drips and taking blood isn't the nicest
thing, but for some reason it stays with me even now (maybe that would explain
my hate of needles, injections etc). Up until the age of 18 I would visit
the hospital every year for check-ups and tests, but after that I now go every 2-3
years. My last visit had been in 2006 where I had a MMR scan and several other tests and
I was shown in great detail the progress I have made over 20 odd years. Yes, the
narrowing will always be there, hence why I am and always will be monitored
through a hospital, but I have learnt to live with that.
I know my limitations
and am not stupid enough to put myself in any danger. I can lead the life of any
normal person, I have 1 younger brother who doesn't suffer from CHD although it
is more common for the condition to develop in boys than in girls. I have been
told by my Cardiologist several times that if and when I decide to have children
the odds are very low that a child would be born with the same problem I
occurred, but that certainly won't put me off due to my knowledge of medical
science, and from knowing the facilities and that the Doctors are even better equipped nowadays
to deal with CHD. The only thing I have to monitor constantly is my blood
pressure, but again sport works in my favour, I like to keep myself as fit as
possible and this regulates my blood pressure for me so to speak.
I'm a great
believer in fate and things happening for a reason, and I'll admit to growing up
with CHD was tough for me to get used to. Perhaps I will never ever find a
reason and I don't think I'd want to because it has made me the person I am today.
I'm a fighter in everything I undertake and I won the greatest battle of all to
save my life and I have never looked back since.
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