How It All Started

It all started when I was just 28 years old. My son Jeff was 5 years old and I had just given birth to my daughter, Jennifer. Jennifer is now 21 and serves on the U.S.S. Bataan in the United States Navy. Jeff is 26, married and father of two boys, Isaac and Jacob - my grandkids.

While juggling the normal tasks of any busy mom, my mother phoned me. At that time phones had cords and they were attached to the wall so you couldn't go very far away from the phone while having a conversation. Unless of course, you had one of those super long cords and I didn't. Jennifer was a bit fussy, so with her on my shoulder I paced back and forth while talking to my mom.

All of a sudden I felt really strange. I felt this pressure in my chest followed by a feeling that I was falling, and I was. Fortunately for me, someone had left their dining room chair pulled out from the table - a real pet peeve of mine. The chair caught my fall and probably saved me from dropping Jennifer.

After convincing my mom that I was okay, she convinced me to see a doctor. After a number of tests, I was told that I hadMitral Stenosis.  I was told that while this condition is serious it did not pose any life threatening risks for me at that time. However, it was serious enough that I needed to be monitored on a regular basis.

Living With The Condition

For the next 20 years I did as recommended and received an annual test to monitor my condition. Year after year the results were the same…mild to moderate risk for any issues.

During this time my life grew busier. I had another son, Kevin. I went to work full-time. I was divorced from my husband leaving me a single mom of 3. I bought a house. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and during the final months of her life I moved out of my house - temporarily - and into hers to be her main caregiver.

Mom passed away in September of 2005. After moving back into my house, I began to feel tired all the time. I went from being an active, busy person to being a couch potato. I still went to work and I still prepared dinner for myself and my son, but I had to make dinner as soon as I got home from work, cause if I sat down for a minute, I didn't get back up.

The Disease Was Progressing

I thought I was just grieving and that life was just catching up with me. But at my next routine test, the numbers had changed. My disease was progressing.

Almost simultaneously to hearing this news, my symptoms worsened. When I woke up in the morning I felt like I had a small child sitting on my chest and by the end of the day that child had become a very large adult. I couldn't walk as far or as fast as I had in previous years and walking up a flight of stairs made me sick to my stomach.

At this point, my cardiologist, Dr. Joan Crawford  advised me to get myself educated about valve replacement surgery.  She referred me to a couple of surgeons and recommended that I use the internet to get as much information as I could.

I did the internet thing, but not the surgeon. In my mind, that would have been admitting that I needed the surgery, and I didn't want to accept that. I was just tired. After all, I was getting older, I had put on a few pounds and my most difficult symptoms didn't appear until after I was told that I had a problem. Therefore, I must be creating them in my own head. Is it possible that I was just making them up or that the anxiety was causing them?

Then one day, I asked Dr. Crawford, "If you take my symptoms out of the picture, would you still recommend surgery?" She turned toward me, looked me square in the eye and said, "You can't separate the two, Deb. You're not making it up. You've had several tests and they all support your symptoms. You need to trust your body."

Accepting The Diagnosis

It still took me a little while to accept that I needed open-heart surgery. But as the pressure in my chest got heavier and heavier I realized that I had to do something. After reflecting on my life - my young son needing his mama, wanting to see my grandkids grow up, my brothers and my sister, and a whole passel of nieces and nephews, and God-willing more grandchildren being born - I spent some time in prayer and just knew that I had to trust Dr. Crawford.

A skilled surgeon, Dr. Sanjay Batra  successfully performed my surgery nearly one year ago. I feel better than I have in a couple of years - maybe more than that. I no longer carry that adult or even that child on my chest, I can walk further and faster and I can walk up 2 flights of stairs without being sick.

I went back to work, my life has returned to normal. I look forward to a long and happy future. Who knows - maybe I'll even be a great-grandma one day.

So, if I could leave you with just one thing, it would be to trust your bodies. Don't ignore your symptoms. A woman's intuition is one of her best assets and if we ignore it, we may lose our lives.