Updated On September 2nd, 1997

So Dr. Burke set me up to meet Dr. Jayne at Dartmouth-Hitchcock for the Pre-Op interview. I was actually scheduled to go in the very next day but I was convinced I could talk him out of it! The night before we met I spent hours preparing the argument I was going to present to him as to why there was no possible way I had a heart problem of ANY kind. The next day I met his most stern, stubborn manner. "I'll give you some examples of the physical stresses I have been able to withstand", I told him. "I trained on the track 2 to 3 times a week all Summer. And I wasn't just doing light speedwork, I exclusively focused on 400 meters at a 60 second pace!", I emphasized. "We are talking about repeats of 100 and 200 meters at sustained top speed. Sub-30 200s!! And I am being totally honest with you - I did not experience even one second of discomfort in my chest". Dry acknowledgement was all I got. "At the frequency and pace I was training at, you KNOW I would felt something, Doc!", I pleaded. And he nodded his head in agreement. We spent over an hour talking about my episodes of dizziness and fainting over a period of 15 years or so. By the end of the session I really thought I had cast a doubt in his mind. And I finished with, "I really think you're wasting your time on this - THERE IS NOTHING HERE!". With that he asked me, "So, do you have any questions for me before we admit you tomorrow?". I could not believe it! But I couldn't fight his knowledge of cardiology with my gut feelings another minute. I gave in and signed the release. He ultimately lightened up when he asked whether there was anyone at home that could drive me that day and I told him about my new dog. I began to trust his unshakable confidence in his work. But I did manage to postpone the catheterization until two weeks later.

What Dr. Jayne was hoping to explain was the odd pattern of blood flow that showed up on the echo-cardiogram. Two weeks before, Dr. Burke, who spent 30 minutes with the instrument himself after the technician gave up and called him in, theorized that an abnormal growth of vessels running along the surface of my heart had developed over my lifetime. The "extra" passages, which started at the top of my heart and wrapped vertically around it and up the backside, existed in conjuction with the normal blood vessels that feed the heart muscle itself. He could not be certain of anything until a definite image could be obtained using the catheterization procedure. This is done by feeding an extremely fine tube all the way from an vein in the leg up through the abdomen and chest and directly into the heart chambers. There they would inject a dye that would be visible by a special camera and ultimately define the pathways of blood flow throughout my heart. It sounded horrible to me and Brattleboro did not have a facility for something this complex, thus the call to Dartmouth-Hitchcock. Dr. Jayne assured me the risk of heart attack or death would be less than 2 in 1000. And even less in my case since my health was so good. After all, this procedure is done on patients who are typically much older and already diagnosed with some kind of life threatening heart disease. I had to trust his word.

My dear friend, Vikki, arranged to take a day off from work, drive me 2 1/2 hours to get there by 7 am, wait with me for the entire 9 hours including the 6 hour recovery period, and then drive me back home after I could get up again. (Now how often are you gonna find a friend like that in your whole life, eh?). Anyway we were on for Friday, the 7th. There was no backing out of it.

We got up at 4 am after only 3 hours sleep (just one of those things). We were on the road by 4:45. She drove and talked while I half slept and half responded. I don't do well with so little sleep, everybody knows that. So the burden was on Vikki - as it would be over the next two days. (She did more than I ever could have offerred in return, that's for sure). When we arrived we were 10 minutes early. I registered in a matter of minutes and then we waited for almost an hour to be called on for prep. We got to my waiting room by 8 or so. Then we proceded to wait hour after hour, me lying on my back with an IV in my arm, Vikki with her school work and some reading material. I was scheduled for 9 am. We were left alone for quite a while with no word about what the delay was, but we figured it was an emergency of some kind. Finally, it was 11 o'clock by the time my nurse came to administer the sedative. After that I was happy and VERY sleepy ... it's like that, Vallium!

By 12 noon I was in the OR and in fine spirits. I felt drunk. I became quite obnoxious with the interns and nurses there to assist. Eventually Dr. Jayne came in and greeted me. I did not recognize him with his mask and his unusual cheer. He had to tell me who he was and from that point on I gave him a humorously hard time. After all it was my dime! "You got the wrong guy I tell ya!", I shouted at him. He cracked up. For the whole time they were preparing the equipment I was pleading with anyone who would give me their attention. "It's not to late to change your mind, you know - I'm flexible". They chuckled, but never stopped going about their business. Finally it came time to inject the anesthesia into my right leg. "Aw, c'mon Doc, NOT THAT LEG - I got a bum kneecap and ITB syndrome, can't we do the other one?", I whined. Dr. Jayne wasn't laughing as much anymore so I decided to shut up and get serious. Besides, the Vallium was leveling off and they needed me to be alert.

Once they got started I could see the whole process on a video monitor. There it was the first catheter passing underneath my rib cage - I could see every bone very distinctly. I could not see any organs however and the only giveaway that made me certain they had reached my heart was when the end of the catheter came to a halt. And then I could faintly make out the thin outline of my beating heart as it flexed. It was awesome to say the least! Then the second catheter and a third. They had planned to photograph at least 3 chambers along with every blood vessel attached to the exterior. There was lots of communication from two persons within a control room and Dr. Jayne at my side. I could always anticipate their next move. But when they were about to spray the dye one particular nurse would announce it to me in advance. She warned me that I would feel a warm flowing sensation as it was injected from the catheter. The first couple of times it happened it was kind of shocking since I felt absolutely nothing while the catheters were being strung through my body. The second most eye-opening experience was how that feeling, which was hot, not warm, rushed from my chest all the way out to the ends of my feet and hands in a matter of seconds! "Could it be that the blood travels THAT quickly through the body? From the heart to the lungs and out to the limbs in less time than it takes me to lurch out from the starting blocks and take my first three steps in a 100m race! Simply amazing. However, the first most eye-opening experience of all was the actual trace that the dye made! For the reasons I just explained, it lasted about 2 seconds each time they sprayed. But the imagery was dramatic! I clearly saw the shape of each chamber. I saw the outline of each valve in motion. I saw the silouette of all those blood vessels as they changed the point of injection to cover every bit of my hearts outer surface. It was incredible!

After an hour or more I knew something was up. in Pre-Op, Dr. Jayne said it would only take an hour to do the whole procedure. I was getting really tired. And as time passed, the room was filling up with more people. I nodded out a couple of times. I could not pay attention any more. They told me afterwards that it lasted about 2 hours. Unfortunately toward the end I was waking up. The drugs were not keeping me happy any longer. In fact the anesthesia was wearing off at the entry point. I started to feel each tug of the catheter and it hurt! The last image I saw on the screen before things got ugly was most likely the thing everyone was interested in. I saw two bulbous endings to one of those blood vessels. they were clearly different from all the others - the artery seemed to end abruptly along it's path while the others sort of ran smoothly along the surface. Soon I heard calls from the control room advising Dr. Jayne of the equipment satus: "we are running low on dye" ... "we have only XX feet video tape left". I knew they were going into extra innings with me and I just wanted it all to STOP! The rest of the experience was immaterial. It eventually came to an end and the good news is that I didn't lose my heartbeat. I was very concerned about that given what had happened during arthroscopy. Finally ,I was taken to my room where I had to lie absolute still for six more hours while the insertion point healed. There were drugs once again to help me sleep.

The verdict is not totally known at this point. Several conclusions were drawn however and explained to me later that evening. Dr. Jayne came in to see me and drew me some pictures of what he saw as an incredible abnormality. First of all, there are three major arteries along the front surface that feed the heart muscle itself. One of those actually originates from the same point at the top behind the large pulmomary artery and then branches in two with a normal heart. In my case, that artery is composed of two isolated passages. The one in the center is basically a dead end (that's what I saw on the monitor) and at birth most likely did not function at all. Therefore, a shortage of arteries existed from birth and in most, if not ALL cases with other children, a serious condition occurs where physical stress on the heart causes major problems early on. As Dr. Jayne described it, "These are very sick kids that require corrective surgery early in their lives". By some miracle, I escaped this condition as a child. Instead, something in my genes allowed my heart to respond by working with the remaining arteries and, over time, knitting the isolated vessel into the other two! Naturally, these two arteries grew much larger than normal to compensate for the one that did not function. But the extraordinary thing is that the third dead artery eventually became functional again, except that it conducts blood in the opposite direction from which it was intended. And that's what Dr. Jayne was concerned with. He had to call in a bunch of pediatric cardiologists during the procedure to explain the condition that only they have experience with. In other words, no other adult (as far as they know) has ever survived this condition - essentially it should have been too late for me, not having been diagnosed properly!

Once again, I am here to tell the story! I am grateful for my genetic origins! And though I am actually as healthy as ever, there is this looming shadow that must be addressed. Dr. Jayne will be presenting the case to a conference on Friday, Valentine's Day. Hopefully, they will come up with some ideas by then. But until then, no running.

Ain't dead yet!

Part One

Part Three

Return To Valentine's Day Menu