Help for my Wife’s Mitral Valve Repair/Replacement

To this day I still can’t believe that devastating heart scare news we have gotten April 30 of this year. When the doctors have said that my wife would be needing bypass operation, I felt like my world fell apart, but I have to be strong for her and our 2 wonderful children. So, here I am writing this appeal to knock on your kind hearts to share prayers and any amount of donations for the bypass operation of my loving wife.

It all started March 18 when my wife started vomiting so I went home early to bring her to the hospital. She was in the ER for almost 3 to 4 hours and was diagnosed having gastroenteritis. Since gastroenteritis wasn’t much of a scare we were advised to go home and so we did like any other given day. Then After 2 days we went back to the hospital to look for a gastroenterologist for her checkup because my wife at that time has a swollen ankle and was experiencing difficulty in breathing. While doing the check-up the doctor said that my wife has a heart murmur, so he referred us to a cardiologist and the cardiologist immediately decided to admit my wife to the hospital that very same day for a series of tests. She underwent a lot of procedures like- ecg, xray etc. ,and after doing some proper examinations and tests, they have found out that my wife has pleural effusion.

Below is what was written on her echocardiograph report.
Conclusion/interpretation/impression - Concentric left ventricular remodeling with good wall motion and contractility adequate left ventrical systolic function - doppler evidence of restrictive left ventricular diastolic function - normal right ventricular dimension with adequate contractility - dilated left atrium - mild mitral and triscupid regurgitation - trivial aortic regurgitation - moderate pulmonary hypertension with pulmonic regurgitation - trivial pericardial effusion - large pleural effusion

March 25, We were discharged as the fluid has been normalized. And was asked to go back April 2 for a follow-up check-up.

April 2 - Follow up checkup. Doctor said that the heart murmur still exists so he advised us that my wife has to undergo TEE.

April 23 - We decided to go to Philippine Heart Center and look for a doctor who can do TEE. The doctor also heard my wife's heart murmur so I explained what happened and what the previous doctor’s prognosis was.

April 30 - TEE was done on this day and this was the most devastating day of my life because this was the day we were informed that there is actually no cure, no medicine of any kind that can treat my wife’s failing mitral valve. We were shocked and went home. I told my wife to be calm and maintain her current status while I'm doing research on the best way to handle this kind of disease. I thought of getting a second opinion just to make sure and of course hoping that the previous doctor’s prognosis was incorrect.

May 1 - We went to church in the morning then to the mall to get a feel of how our life was before this disease struck my wife. Then at night time, while the kids were playing and my wife was trying to eat, she felt something unusual in her jaw and we thought that it might be a discomfort from yesterday’s TEE. But, after a couple of minutes, she started to panic so I rushed her to the nearest hospital for first aid. Unfortunately, the heart center is far enough from our house so I decided to bring her to Medical City where her doctor’s residency is .I was afraid that time as she started to chill while we were on our way to ER.

May 7 - During our stay in the hospital, my wife takes oral medicines but it has no effect and she always feels the palpitation specially after taking the medicines. The doctor also discussed the surgical plans for open heart surgery - Mitral valve repair/replacement but we were not able to proceed because we are not prepared financially. We decided to go home and do the medication at home while we are looking for funds.

It has been almost 3 weeks since it happened and I was looking and hoping for alternative healing ,but today as I think deep about the situation, I can no longer hold onto the idea of alternative healing as my wife’s condition is getting worse and she’s still not back to her old self.

As we all know, heart operation is so much expensive here in the Philippines and HMOs wouldn’t accommodate such amount. I want the bypass operation to be done as soon as possible but our finances are currently depleted having two children in school and all other expenses we incur living the daily life.

Again, I’m knocking on your kind hearts to share prayers and any amount of donations for the bypass operation of my loving wife.

Any amount would be greatly appreciated at this difficult time and all the money raised will be used for my wife's surgery, medical and hospital expenses and medical supplies during recovery.

Thank you for reading and I am humbly asking for help and support in this cause from all of my friends, family, and anyone willing to help.