Living Past the Expiration Date

As we approach another holiday season, it is hard to believe yet another year has passed—another year older as a CHD patient!

I recently read an article in Cardiology Today posted by ACHA, “Adults with congenital heart disease present challenges, rewards for cardiologists.” It is an excellent article and worth the read. One tidbit jumped out at me:

"Our patients [with adult congenital heart disease] are much older than stated age,” Mike Landzberg, MD, director of the Boston Adult Congenital Heart and Pulmonary Hypertension Group at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, told Cardiology Today. “If they have 40 years of chronologic age, their bodies behave in many ways as if they are 60-year-olds. Their kidneys, livers and brains may have potential for diseases that the typical 60-year-old sees.”

I joked on Facebook that if I am doing the math correctly, I should be booking my winter stay in Florida with the old biddies! I have lived knowing I surpassed my expiration date given at birth by many years. It is as rewarding as it is sobering.

And, thinking that our bodies are older than they are is scary. It does make sense and, as many of us experience, feels very much like the reality. For me, I have been very lucky to have avoided many of the issues some of my CHD peers have experienced.

After five heart surgeries (and countless cardiac caths), I do not have a pacemaker, have not experienced kidney or liver issues, and continue to actively participate in my day-to-day life. But there are those pesky memory issues, the cardiac hangover after a little too much physical activity, and those extra beats. At 48 I anticipate more issues to deal with but hope for the best. I can’t worry about what is the unknown.

What I do know is that we have some dedicated professionals looking out for us and a hard-working organization in ACHA, helping forge answers to the mysterious puzzle we CHD folks are. We may have an array of issues that our funky hearts caused, but we can be assured by the progress the CHD community is making. And this holiday season, that is what I am grateful for.