ASD Closure

Isn't this a cool little device? Well, it's going to be in my heart pretty soon. It's a bit of a long story, but I have been diagnosed with an atrial septal defect (ASD). An ASD is a hole in the heart that has been there since birth. There are two kinds of holes that are found in the heart. The first is a patent foramen ovale or PFO, which everyone is born with and closes up in the first year or two of life. In some people this never closes. The other kind is an ASD, which is simply a hole in the septum between the two atria of the heart. They are pretty sure that mine is an ASD, but won't know for sure until they go in and place the device. They did a Transcranial Doppler as well as a bubble echocardiogram to diagnose the ASD. Both tests showed significant flow of blood directly from the right atrium to the left (which is not normal or good). Because of this, there is a high risk for stroke. Therefore, I will be having the procedure on November 20th to have the hole closed. Because technology is so amazing, they will be able to go up through my femoral vein (in my groin area) and place the device through a catheter. I will only be in the hospital for one night and will be back to noramal life very quickly!! I know this is a lot of information and I probably didn't explain it very well, but if anyone would like more info., you can visit http://www.sorensenmd.com/ which is the website of the cardiologist doing the procedure. He is the best in the nation for this procedure and is second in the world. Another good website to look at is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrial_septal_defect . Anyway, I don't want to worry anyone, I just thought I would fill you in on the latest here!