I just realized I never gave my own story.....in what led me to needing my transplant soooo.......here it is!
I was born at 29w, 2d gestation. It wasn't my fault or my parents faults, stuff just happens. I weighed a tiny 2 lbs, 3 oz but I lost that weight and it took me FOREVER to put it back on.
Because of my early arrival, I was born with a multitude of health problems; primarily in my heart and lungs region. Here's the catch: while it was obvious that my lungs were very underdeveloped, it didn't even occur to my doctors that there *might* be something wrong with my heart (remember: it was, literally, late 70s/early 80s thinking when I was born).
I was in the hospital for almost eight months (1/3/80-8/27/80) and would've stayed in there longer if it hadn't been for my mom (she asked the doctor point blank: "what do you have here that we can't bring back with us?" Like any new parent, she wanted her baby home).
As you might imagine, because of my premature birth, I learned how to do many things late; walk, talk, etc. It's not that I was an idiot, I truly was developmentally delayed. The average five month old baby is held, played with, spoken to, etc but my folks never did that with me and it's not that they didn't want to--they couldn't! I was too busy fighting for my own damn life!
In August of 1980, I was FINALLY released from the hospital but on oxygen 24/7 and needing constant care. As you might imagine, your average almost eight month old was hitting all of the regular baby milestones while I was still at the starting gate. When I was two and a half years old, I was walking, starting to talk, and being a very observant toddler but....I was also still on oxygen around the clock.
My doctors were surprised that my stats/oxygen percentage weren't wasn't as high as expected (considering how much o2 I was on) so I had my first cardiac catherization and that's when it was discovered I had numerous holes in my heart. Holes that were inoperable. I was diagnosed with Eisenmenger's Syndrome. In layman's terms, every time my heart would beat, the oxygenated blood and deoxygenated blood would intertwine, flow and wind up in my already crappy lungs.
I was born at 29w, 2d gestation. It wasn't my fault or my parents faults, stuff just happens. I weighed a tiny 2 lbs, 3 oz but I lost that weight and it took me FOREVER to put it back on.
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| Itty bitty Kimmy |
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| So tiny |
Because of my early arrival, I was born with a multitude of health problems; primarily in my heart and lungs region. Here's the catch: while it was obvious that my lungs were very underdeveloped, it didn't even occur to my doctors that there *might* be something wrong with my heart (remember: it was, literally, late 70s/early 80s thinking when I was born).
I was in the hospital for almost eight months (1/3/80-8/27/80) and would've stayed in there longer if it hadn't been for my mom (she asked the doctor point blank: "what do you have here that we can't bring back with us?" Like any new parent, she wanted her baby home).
As you might imagine, because of my premature birth, I learned how to do many things late; walk, talk, etc. It's not that I was an idiot, I truly was developmentally delayed. The average five month old baby is held, played with, spoken to, etc but my folks never did that with me and it's not that they didn't want to--they couldn't! I was too busy fighting for my own damn life!
In August of 1980, I was FINALLY released from the hospital but on oxygen 24/7 and needing constant care. As you might imagine, your average almost eight month old was hitting all of the regular baby milestones while I was still at the starting gate. When I was two and a half years old, I was walking, starting to talk, and being a very observant toddler but....I was also still on oxygen around the clock.
 |
| Beach baby and on oxygen |
My doctors were surprised that my stats/oxygen percentage weren't wasn't as high as expected (considering how much o2 I was on) so I had my first cardiac catherization and that's when it was discovered I had numerous holes in my heart. Holes that were inoperable. I was diagnosed with Eisenmenger's Syndrome. In layman's terms, every time my heart would beat, the oxygenated blood and deoxygenated blood would intertwine, flow and wind up in my already crappy lungs.
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