Tracy Elliot
Thursday 7th April 2016
Tracy’s dad Steve Langton (see 6th April blog) had surgery for heart valve disease recently. Here, she writes about how the disease has affected her family and the support they all received from the Heart Valve Voice Facebook page.
I am a single mum to a four-year-old who likes to keep her granddad on his toes! I work part time as Personal Assistant for a financial adviser. We see my mum and dad quite a lot and it’s been hard watching my dad not be able to play with my daughter as much as he’d like to because of his leaky heart valve.
Before my father was diagnosed with heart valve disease, I had never heard of it. I was scared at first that it meant he was going to be really unwell or worse, but after getting information from him, I realised it was a ‘liveable’ condition with treatments available. Nonetheless, it was a worry.
My main and only concern through this whole process has been for my father's welfare. Once we knew he needed an operation it made his condition feel more real and a lot more serious. Open heart surgery sounds so scary in abstract. The only information I got was from my father and from Google – which is sometimes worse. The generic information on the web can scare you more than is needed, which is why I think the development of more ‘patient and family’ friendly resources and information is important. The information from our doctor together with Heart Valve Voice reassured us all that open-treat surgery, whilst a major operation, was the best option for my dad. Another thing that gave me comfort was the support dad was getting from the Heart Valve Voice Facebook page. The messages of encouragement made the whole family feel really positive.
My advice to anyone who think their family member may have heart valve disease is to seek the medical help that’s needed and then make sure they have a solid support network around them throughout the whole process. Be there for them, not just for the physical needs but also for company and emotional support. I think it’s important that people know all the facts so they know about the disease, its treatments and life beyond the diagnosis.
