My heart surgery... Why and how? All the questions you’ve been asking.
Dear LuFisto fans,
First of all, I just want to say how grateful I am. Grateful for your support and kind words I received via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook. After the minor stroke I had back in 2010, the road to recovery has been a long one... A road that finally reached its ending point last Thursday, July 14th.
After many tests, the doctors found where the blood clot came from. Anyway, a lot of you had questions so here are a few answers...
Please read carefully the last paragraph as it will affect some stuff in wrestling.
My Disease or... My Congenital Heart Defect
With a camera down my troat a few month ago, we discovered that I had an a atrial septal defect. An ASD is a hole in the part of the septum that separates the upper chambers of the heart known as the atria.
This heart defect allows oxygen-rich blood from the left atrium to flow across the atrial septum into the right atrium instead of flowing down to the left ventricul as it should. This is inefficient because oxygen-rich blood gets pumped back to the lungs, where it has just been, instead of going to the body.
An ASD can be small or large. Mine was 20mm. Small ASDs allow only a little blood to flow from one atrium to the other. Small ASDs don't affect the way the heart works and therefore don't need any special treatment. Many small ASDs close on their own as the heart grows during childhood.
Medium to large ASDs (me!!) allow more blood to leak from one atrium to the other, and they are less likely to close on their own. Most children with ASDs have no symptoms, even if they have large ASDs.
There are three major types of ASD: Secundum, primum and sinus venonus, the first one being my defect. This defect is in the middle of the atrial septum. It's the most common form of ASD. About 8 out of every 10 babies born with ASD have secundum defects. At least half of all secundum ASDs close on their own. This is less likely if the defect is large… Of course 20mm is considered, large.
The Official Cause of the Stoke
Over time, the extra blood flow to the right side of the heart and the lungs may cause problems for a heart that has an ASD. Usually, most of these problems don't show up until adulthood, often around age 30 or later. They are rare in infants and children. These possible problems include: Right heart failure, arrhytmias, pulmonary arterial hypertension and you guessed it… Stroke.
Usually, the lungs filter out small clots that can form on the right side of the heart. Sometimes a blood clot formed on the right side of the heart can pass through an ASD to the left side and be pumped out to the body. A clot like this can travel to an artery in the brain, blocking blood flow through it and causing a stroke.
My Surgery… A Catheter Procedure
First of all, you go to sleep with VERY strong medicine. I can’t really remember when I fell asleep actually... Somewhere after I was told that this stuff was very strong... Then, total dark.
During the procedure, the doctor inserts a catheter (a thin, flexible tube) into a vein in the groin (upper thigh) and threads it to the heart's septum. The catheter has a tiny umbrella-like device folded up inside it.
When the catheter reaches the septum, the device is pushed out of the catheter and positioned so that it plugs the hole between the atria. The device is secured in place and the catheter is withdrawn from the body.
Within 6 months to a year, normal tissue grows in and over the device. Doctors used a transesophageal echo (camera in my throat) to guide them in threading the catheter to the heart and closing the defect.
Catheter procedures are much easier on patients than surgery because they involve only a needle puncture in the skin where the catheter is inserted. This means that recovery is faster and easier. Thank God!!
How This Will Affect Wrestling...
When you have heart surgery, you are more subject to catch any disease out there... Here are a list of simple things I cannot do anymore in my day-to-day life: Eat raw meat (everything has to be perfectly cooked), empty my cat’s litter (too many bacteria), take antibiotics BEFORE if I go to the dentist or if I get tattooed or pierced. I also have to brush my teeth and wash my hands very often...
That being said, having to be EXTRA careful with bacteria, I won’t be able to clap your hands going out to the ring, shake your hands during meet and greets or accept any kiss from anybody I don’t know.
I have to wrestle, leave the area, wash my hands and brush my teeth after each match... And pray that I don’t cut myself. I’m on blood thinners so there will be a ridiculous amount of blood flowing + I will have to clean the cut ASAP with A LOT of alcohol so it doesn’t get infected.
I hope you can forgive me for all those precautions I now have to take. It’s not that I don’t want to shake your hands... I just can’t. Please bear with me on this one.
Thank you very much for your understanding and you support.
Much love to you all.
Figure A shows the normal anatomy and blood flow of the interior of the heart. Figure B shows two common locations of ventricular septal defects. The defect allows oxygen-rich blood from the left ventricle to mix with oxygen-poor blood in the right ventricle.