Little Zippers

  Aimee's Story   

       My name is Aimee and I'm a big kid, i was born  with transposition of the grate arteries, it was corrected with an old procedure called a mustered! :) I was 8 months old when i had my first surgery, all was fairly well till the age of seven when i started to have atrial flutter, I had several esophageal conversions and then finally decided to go with a pacemaker, over the next 5 years i had 4 pacemakers, my body just didn't wanna except them for the most part, some just didn't work, others got infected,  and the last one i broke when i did a flip over the monkey bars in 6th grade ( i was determent to still be a kid) :) I tried several different types of meds to control the flutter but nothing really seemed to work, I had three ablations but they were unsuccessful. I would weekly go in to get converted which is in my mind the thing i hated the most! When i was about 18 we started some meds that seemed to help quit a bit, but i grew a tolerance to them and soon was going back into the hospital monthly or more. By the time i was 21 a new drug had been approved that was already being used in Canada (rythmol) i have been on this med for almost eight years and it seems to control my flutter very well, i have only been in to be cardio converted about 20 times in this span which is much much better than weekly or twice a month. I am very active and even was able to have my amazing child who is almost four years old! My pregnancy was very good, and i had what i consider miner issues, CHF after his birth, and at 21 weeks they couldn't find pressure in one of the chambers in my heart. I was to come back in two days to have a cath and i would need to think about having an abortion ( which i was not willing to consider) I went in for my cath and thank god they found pressure seems, the machine just couldn't read it when they did my echo! Just this past summer i had my old pacemaker removed (the one i broke in 6th grade) because it became infected. It was a very rough time and i had a few other issues after my surgery but I'm happy to say that i just went for a check up the other day and things are looking very good. I'm so blessed to have the Dr's and the friends that i have made through having my zipper! I only hope that my story will give hope to others and that i can be a support for anyone who may need it. I'm living proof that you can live a healthy semi-normal :) life. I ride horse play softball, work, have a child, and enjoy life just as everyone else does. Thank you so much for reading my story, I hope it gives strength when it is needed!