I was born with a heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot. I am not going to take the time at this moment to fully explain what that is. It is a condition that is encompasses 4 different problems. You can read about it at the mayo clinic siteTOF.
I was 3# 13oz at birth. I spent the first month of my life in the hospital in an incubator.I was not given much chance at life, less than a 30% chance to live 48 hours.
When I was born things were much different then it is now. Surgeries these days now take place when babies are just months old. When I was a child I did have a surgery at 3 months old, but it was not what they call a repair. (Again to save time I will not try to explain what that means here. TOF repair ) My repair surgery was done when I was 5 years old and 2 years later I had a valve replaced.
Most of my life was pretty quiet. I went to the dr once a year. I remember having a lot of x-rays, ecgs and echos (ultrasounds of the heart).
I have been told that because of this prolonged time in the incubator
that it affected my learning abilities.I did struggle through school.
Although now as an adult I am in college and doing much better. In high
school i was a C student I am now a B student. I still struggle with my
reading as I read very slow, but I am finding that I can do my work
better. When I work at it, which is something I am avoiding right now.
