Hello, my name is Molly Rumble and I was born on the 22nd may 1996 at East surrey Hospital. My parents had no idea that I had any heart problems before I was born. At birth I was a very blue but my mum was told this was OK and would pass in a few days.
When I went home I was a very quite and sleepy baby and mum had to wake me to feed me, which was a bit of a worry for her. As it was a bank holiday weekend the midwife didn’t come to see us for three days as she thought my mum was OK having had a baby before.
When she came in on the Tuesday she realised I was quite poorly and sent me straight to East surrey hospital. It was discovered that I had a heart problem although they didn’t know exactly what so they sent me by ambulance to the Royal Brompton hospital in London.
My doctor at the Royal Brompton was Professor Reddington who discovered that I only had one pumping chamber working, a blocked valve and a large hole in my heart. I underwent my first major surgery that night at 5 days old and I had a BT shunt fitted. The doctors were very worried about me and told my parents that they didn’t know if I would survive.
I had a very swollen brain and a stomach condition called necrotising enter colitis, which meant my bowel, was dying. They warned my Mum and Dad that I might be blind, have mobility problems and learning difficulties. I spend 9 days in intensive care and 4 weeks altogether in hospital before I was allowed home.
As I grew up I underwent 11 more surgeries including 3 major ones, the most recent being a TCPC. I have to take medication every day including warfarin I have to test my blood regularly at home for this.
In the summer of 2008 I had been feeling quite unwell for a while and my cardiologist, now Dr Daubeney decided that I should have an MRI scan. During this scan I was given some medication, which made my kidneys go wrong and my potassium levels rise.
I was rushed into intensive care and then transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital where they found I was in chronic renal failure and they found that my kidneys had not developed properly. This was a very scary time for me I now take medication for this and I have to be careful what I eat and drink.
Over the last 16 years I have spent lots of time in hospital and going to outpatients appointments which has meant I have missed lots of school. I find learning very difficult and need lots of help with this. I am due to take my GCSEs this summer English, maths and science. I find school very tiring and have been on a part time timetable since year 7. I am due to go to college in September to take a foundation course, which is very exciting.
I have 2 very good friends in who help me at school and know when I go out I have to sometime use my wheelchair depending on how I long I am out for. They are very understanding however; I have found school very tough in places, as not everybody understands the effects of being a heart patient, as it doesn’t always show.
Travelling to my hospital appointments has always been a very tiring experience for me as all my hospitals are in London which mean long journeys either by train or car and has also meant I have missed lots of school and now college.
The best thing about being a heart patient was when my sister organised a wish for me and I was taken up to London to the millennium hotel where I met JLS and then went to their concert at Wembley. This was an amazing day one I will never forget and kind of made up for all the treatment I have had to have.
I know that in the future I may need a heart transplant but I try not to think about this too much. I would love to have a job with animals, but I need to finish college first.
By Molly Rumble
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