Letter 12

I am a mother of three adult children and I have three adorable grandchildren all girls.  Now to take a quick journey back in time. I am the 6th born child of my parents brood of 15 children AND AT THE AGE OF 9 I CONTRACTED THE DISEASE Rheumatic fever. I was hospitalised for a short period and given a large dose daily of penicillin.  However i became a young mum at the age of 17 and it was during my labor with my first child that the physician at the time noted I had a murmur of the heart.  I didn’t fully understand what this meant but for safetys sake I was placed under the care of a world renown cardiologist from NZ Dr John Campbell-Macdonald..And my first visit to him i was told I would need work done probably once I got into my fifties for a diseased mitral valve.  However I was only 27 when I underwent my first surgery on my heart valve of which was a valvotomy. because of the narrowing nature of the valve and its inability to function properly. so at the ripe old age of 18 I was told that it would be inevitable that I would suffer a stroke sometime in my life timebecause I had Atrial Fibrilation. Oh but it doesn’t end there.  At age 30 I was hospitalised for a suspected bout of endocarditis.  And then at 40 I underwent a major operation where I had my mitral and Aorta valves replaced and the tricuspid valve repaired.  Then I went through a very messy messed up relationship breakdown with my husband of 10 years ( not the father of my children). I had spent the last 16 years with him and I guess the stress just got too much for me and at age 45 I suffered first a TIA with no real effects at all but within three weeks I went on to have a haemorragic stroke that has left me with leftsideparalysis.Nowi feel for my rightside because it has had to do so much work to compensate for the lack of function of my leftside.  I spent on 5 months in hospital after my major stroke where I participated in daily rehabilitation but they weren’t as optomistic as I was and i just kept telling them i wanted to get back onto the netball court. in the end they told me pretty blatantly that i would never fully recover but I refuse to accept that diagnosis.  I hate using a wheelchair and only use it if I am going to be doing something quite strenuous like grocery shopping with my girl oh thats right my daughter who is 21 has cared for me since this happened.  I have an AFO to support my foot and left leg in my shoe.  I do not walk with fluidity. I can place my left arm by my side but have no finger use however whever I am in a seated position I sit holding my fingers open. i speak fine but I can’t sing which has always been a love of mine. I just sound terribly flat lol.And so Rajul I am trying to find Marina again. She is there somewhere but she is a little lost at the moment. If there is anything you could recommend I do I would be extremely grateful.  I will await your response.

YoursSincerely
M.G.
Australia