My long awaited Cardiology appointment was today. “Ah – sorry?”, most of you would be saying. Don’t I have a bowel condition?

Yes.

And a skin condition and god knows how many others. What’s that old saying – the harder they look the more they find? Well pre-op they look pretty darn hard and that’s were all these little issues have sprung up. I will link my original post where they found my heart problem here for all that are interested.

So, I was born with Wolff Parkinson White – basically I have an extra pathway or pathways in my heart that occasionally conduct the electrical impulses in the wrong way. It was found on a run of the mill, standard ECG pre-op in 2013. Since my Crohn’s was the main problem at the time (and I didn’t even know I had WPW) we decided to get me discharged out of Cardiology and go through with the resection. The rest is history. I sit here today with 30cm less small bowel – but far healthier than I was going back 3 years. 

During the end stages of my companies catalogue last year – I was working 60 + hours a week – till 1-2am every morning on getting the document done… but I was THE ONLY ONE working that hard. I was planning, designing it and executing it – even though there was supposed to be two other staff members helping me… It’s a really familiar story at this place. 

At the time I thought I was just burned out – but it turns out that the additional stress lumped upon me (someone who’s body isn’t like other peoples) ended up bringing on symptoms of WPW. The chronic and unrelenting migraines were just one symptom – the rest I was masking with Valium to make it through my long, hard and very very nasty days at my FTJ. 

My life being at the particular stage it’s at (the no bullshit, lets get all our issues sorted out and open up some options for us, stage), has lead me to take a new referral to Cardiology in hopes of getting my heart issues sorted out as best they can. Of course, as soon as my referral went in – there was a huge scandal at Gold Coast Hospital and 7 cardiologists were stood down – one being the surgeon I was going to eventually need.

My appointment time blew out because of the backlog, but I finally got in today.

I guess when you live with the term “incurable” things happen to you. Things change about you. Not much worries me now (medically speaking). But in a specialty where surgery is always looked on as a last resort, having a patient walk in and say “Hi my name is Amanda, I have Wolff Parkinson White, I’m symptomatic, fix it”, is unusual. The doctor was immediately on his back foot. He told me that it required a procedure (surgery) but it had a high success, low risk rate. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah I know, when can you fit me in to zap it”, I replied. He was again taken back further….

“Ms Wyatt, you’ll have to excuse my surprise but we rarely have patients come in and demand surgery”. 

“How many patients do you see with other chronic, incurable conditions?”

The silence was pretty damning – or was it telling? That bowel patients really are a different breed (like the nurses have told me over and over again). 

The resolution was that as soon as the new (can’t remember the exact term of the specialty) “heart zapper” is in an and comfortable I am on the waiting list… 

It’s nice to have the opportunity to have something actually “fixed”… after the procedure I will no longer have the rhythm that screams “WPW” I won’t have the heart condition and I can continue on with just my Crohn’s and Sweets Syndrome…

Probably the best part – because of my heat rate records the hospital will be enforcing a 10 working day exclusion from my work place. Meaning I can’t talk to them, check my emails or interact with ANYONE from there. Blood clots are a common side effect when you put a recently serviced heart under stress… so to be sure – I get two weeks off to sit in front of the television, on anti-anxiety medication and beta blockers and forget that I’ve just finished watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the 9th time. 

I might be looking forward to this surgery a little more than I should considering they’re going in through my neck which doesn’t really turn me on. 

It’s an exciting prospect to take one item off my medical watch out list. 

Roll on May….