Well, here I am

[RumblingChest]

Hello everyone!

So I find myself here after 55 years of walking about with an ASD totally unaware of it. It turns out the heart murmur mentioned in a routine medical in my twenties wasn’t quite so innocent.

I had a day of feeling tired, then persistent palpitations that were stopping me sleeping. When my heart rate started to climb I remembered the nifty ECG app on the Apple Watch and as things continued eventually it decided it was AF and I should see my doctor soon. It was actually very useful to be able to show my GP the ECG plots and he was straight on it. A bunch of tests and scans and then “you’ve got a hole in you heart, you’ve had it since birth, it needs to be closed”. Before this the worst I’d done was breaking the tip of my thumb!

So next step, I’m waiting to get my rims checked out for suitability for percutaneous closure.

[10gingercats]

A hole in the heart is mostly closed via a 'procedure' and not Open Heart Surgery. although it could happen that way. Mine was vis a procedure about 10 years ago...I was in my 70's then. They go in via the groin and it is a relatively minor job with 1 day or less in hospital.I had had mine,they thought since birth. Did not put me off doing much in life and nobody seem to have noticed it before including gynaes. when I was pregnant. Goes to show just how these things can be overlooked. But then i had an embolism and TIA so they were anxious to close it.I hope yours can also be done via the groin...so much easier and no recovery time .I bounced out of bed full of energy the very next morning!.

[MummaSoap]

Welcome to the forum!

Thank you for sharing your story, I hope that you get a date for the repair very soon.

Keep us posted with how you get on! 🙂

Best wishes

Soap 🧼

[Yumz199725]

A very warm welcome to you Rumblingchest!I have a VSD a small one so they want to leave it. Hope your ASD can be repaired via the groin like 10gingercats suggested. Wish you all the best and hope you get a date for surgery soon take care! 😉

[Silvertail]

I have similar - a PFO - which is sometimes linked with strokes. It was only discovered in a routine echo in my 70s. I was told people can go through life never knowing they have them. They are only found during an autopsy. Mine doesn't seem to cause any trouble - they are not worried about it. I'm on heaps of meds so hopefully I won't have a stroke.

[Digger0]

I was 69 when I started getting tired, mended last year at 71 and been excavating for 4 weeks this month. Pre op I could hardly manage 400m, 5 weeks post op I could do 7km round the Derbyshire Dales ! This is what we have been excavating.

Birds eye view of an excavation

[RumblingChest in reply to Digger0]

That’s an awesome improvement, glad it’s allowing you do something you obviously enjoy. Is that a Roman site?

[Digger0 in reply to RumblingChest]

No, it is the remains of a medieval hall from the 1500's