Ron Pemberton

Several years ago I was told I had both mitral valve prolapse and bicuspid aortic Stenosis. These combined problems caused various rhythm disturbances for me which were being handled mostly by Internal. It seemed to work quiet well for me. I would tire and periodically have chest pains when I over did it, but I grew accustomed to those feelings. When the chest pains hit, I'd just back off from what I was doing. This seemed to work. The doctors monitored it and I felt safe in their care and didn't worry.

In Dec 96 I went to bed one night and apparently had a cardiac arrest. The ambulance crew, a block away, got here and got my ticker going again. They did break my right shoulder in the process though. They got me to the hospital 90 miles away and, after getting there, it quit three more times. I didn't know anything or anyone for ten days. They couldn't operate on my shoulder until mid Jan 97 because of the arrhythmia's. So, they rebroke it, attempted surgery, and the arrhythmia's made them quit short of successful repair. They had to wait until Aug 97 before they dared try it again. By then, so much damage had gone unrepaired, they weren't able to do much with it. I have about 10% use of the right arm now and it remains in constant pain. I can live with that for at least I'm still here and thankful for that; not the pain mind you.

They placed me on other medicines, I forget the names, and all seemed to be taken care of. I thought I was again in good shape even though I still had periodic chest pains and arrhythmia's.

One day In August 1999 I was driving to the office and the most intense pain hit me in the middle of my chest and down my left arm that I had ever felt. Since I can only use my left arm, the pain was so intense I had to pull over on the Interstate as I simply couldn't drive. I sat there until it felt better and went on to the office for an important meeting I just couldn't miss, but the pain remained in my chest, just not as severe. It continued until that afternoon, and realizing it wasn't going to leave and feeling really bad, I went on to the hospital 90 miles away. As soon as I got there and after three hours of paperwork, they said I'd had a heart attack and they had to do an angiogram to determine the extent of the damage and to see what needed to be done.   

The angiogram revealed that only 8% of my blood was getting through the aortic valve. That night, when I awoke from the angiogram, they told me they had me scheduled for open heart the first thing in the morning. I told them I'd have to think about it and rescheduled it for two weeks later. The doc told me I wouldn't live two months if I didn't get it done. I really had no choice as I love living so I let them schedule it.

So, in Sep 99, they went in and replaced my aortic valve with a St. Jude silzone model. They picked the valve as I knew nothing of what was best or worst and only knew they felt this was the best for me. I believe the only drawback to having a mechanical valve is having to take Coumadin to thin the blood and prevent strokes.  

After the valve replacement, I still had periodic chest pains and arrhythmia's and they put me on Atenolol to control them. Even with it, I still felt bad at times, but felt this may be the after affects of the open heart. I still couldn't get my energy level back to where it was either. This did concern me, but I thought that was par for the course.

In Jul 00, on a Friday, I felt really bad, was having arrhythmia's, and I left the office and went to the doc to see what was going on. My medicine was changed and he said things would change by Monday.

Sure enough, on that Monday morning (7/24/00) the change came just as he predicted. I went into cardiac arrest, the ambulance was called, they again got me going, and I awoke in the hospital. They stated I'd had another cardiac arrest and that they would have to put in a defibrillator and pacemaker combination device. They couldn't do this until the following Friday as I was on Coumadin (a blood thinner) and they had to thicken my blood prior to doing it.

That Friday (07/28/00) the blood was satisfactory to them and they placed a Guidant AICD system in me. That stands for Automatic Implant able Cardioverter Defibrillator. I had to look at the book to get the name and the proper spelling.

I'm now home and waiting for the wound to heal prior to returning to work. They only cut an incision about 4" long in my left chest, above my nipple, and placed the device there. They then ran wires into my heart from the device and anchored them so that, if needed, the machine could shock my heart into beating normal again should something occur. Not only does the device keep the heart beating correctly, but it records each and every beat and every machine intervention so that the data can be downloaded into a computer and analyzed by my doctor to determine the proper settings and anything that needs being done. It is amazing at how much they can actually do.

Once they put the device in your chest, they stop your heart three or four times to see if the device will get you started again. If it doesn't, your money is cheerfully refunded.

So, now I have a mechanical St. Jude aortic valve and a Guidant AICD. They've yet to replace the mitral valve, but are now watching that to see what develops. I do feel blessed that modern science has allowed me to still be here. The ticking doesn't bother me as the sound lets me know I'm still living.

That's my story. There's not really much more that I can say. The doctors know what caused what and why it developed the way it did. They've explained it to me, but I didn't understand them so...... As long as I keep on ticking, it doesn't matter.