It was rough. But after that, I was up. I was okay. And I've been
living a very, very great life ever since. You know, I don't really
notice that there's anything ever, ever was done with my heart.
Welcome to open heart surgery with Boots, the
podcast that gets to the heart of what it's really
like to go under the knife. I am your host,
Boots Knighton, here to share the ups,
downs and everything in between about
heart surgery from the patient's perspective.
Before we dive into this operating room of our
shared experiences, please make sure this
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openheart surgery with Boots. There you'll get
exclusive content, behind the scenes stories, and
a chance to connect with other heart warriors.
But for now, let's open up and explore the world
of heart surgery from the other side of the
scalpel. Welcome. Joel Oliver.
Thank you for tuning in with us from Calgary,
Canada. I tell you, you Canadians, you just keep coming
into my life. I'm losing track of how many people from Canada I've had
the honor of interviewing. So thank you for
coming on. And Joel, you are such a breath of
fresh air for we heart patients. Your story is
easy peasy. And all of us heart
patients, we all have our own stories. And I
think it's important when we listen to each other's stories
that it's so easy to compare and to
maybe even have a little envy that someone has it
easier. But, you know, we're all on our own
journeys and we can't even begin to understand
the power of sharing our stories. And so I
am so glad that you reached out and I'm honored and I
know we're all going to be better for hearing your story today. Thank you,
Boots. Well, just the few minutes that I've gotten to speak to you already, I
mean, I love what you're doing and you're a shining light here. You're
a very bright personality. So I appreciate already that you've made me feel, like,
very good since we started chatting here. So thanks for what you're doing and the
opportunity to be on here. Yeah, yeah. You're like Mister
Mitral Valve and you're the only person I've had the
opportunity of meeting who's had, like, a simple valve
repair and then when about your day. And
so, I mean, yes, you've had a bit of. You had a bit of a
rough road right afterwards, but let's dive in.
Your mitral valve repair was in 2018,
but walk us back to, like, what led up to
that. Sure. Yeah. And I guess it matters in this context. It was actually
a replacement. So I have a completely not
natural, titanium mechanical mitral valve
inside. So, yeah, that's an interesting fact to
share with new friends when you meet people. So, yeah, I mean,
these days leading up to now, like, since
the surgery, things have been pretty good. I have a business, I work
remotely. So I was quite nervous when the
whole surgery thing was coming about that would impact my life and I wouldn't be
able to travel anymore. There's, with this mechanical valve blood
test required. So a lot of that was running through my head, what's going to
happen once the surgery takes place? But I am happy to say that since that
happened in 2018, aside from the bit of recovery time, I've lived quite
a. Not only a normal life, but a great life. And I'm
quite fortunate for. So, leading up to things in
2018, I would say probably seven to ten years
before that, they had just been watching me. There was a
couple of instances over that time where I ended up in hospital with some atrial
fibrillation. So pretty scary. Heart rhythm
is out of whack. Feels very different. You know, it feels scary, and you
don't really know what's going on initially. So there's a couple of times
that happened, and that's what led them to discover that I had a
leaky mitral valve, essentially, it just wasn't working efficiently. So your heart
is pumping to try to move the blood around, and it's not working
efficiently. It's getting tired, essentially. Like, your heart is wearing out.
So they were keeping an eye on it to see if we would have any
further developments that would necessitate surgery. And it did end
up that, I guess it was somewhere around
2017. They tested me and said, yeah, you've got to get this surgery.
And obviously, I felt a lot of dread come
over me at that point because I wasn't actually expecting it. Of course, I knew
they were monitoring me, but at that point in my life, I felt pretty good.
It was summertime, I was hiking, I was going to the gym. Didn't really
have any noticeable issues. Like, you know, your story
was quite different than mine because you were having some very obvious
problems. And you're unsure what was going on. I felt pretty
good. I would get some irregular heartbeats sometimes, but I didn't feel
that my energy was super low. Although I guess when you're living in that
situation, you don't necessarily have a reference point, like how good I'm
supposed to feel. But at that time, I didn't think that that surgery was
coming. Now, an interesting side note here is my mom.
This is a genetic thing that I have. She actually had the same issue and
the same surgery, but she had it much later in life than me. So I
was 28, she was in her early fifties, meaning that she had the same
surgery about a year before I did, roughly.
So I actually got to watch her go through it all. And I kind of
knew a little what to expect, how it was going to go about the
medication I had to be on. So I saw that coming. I kind of
knew what I was in for, although you can't really be fully prepared.
But, yeah, I got the news. And then about a year later, I went in
for the surgery and a few months of recovery, a little bit of
rehab, and I was feeling pretty good. I think 28 year olds are not
sure it happens, but that's not who they are expecting, typically, to see walk in
with that issue. So I was. I was fortunate. I bounced back pretty
quick. And things have been pretty good since then. Just like that?
Yeah. I mean, you know, you can make it sound
relatively simple by telling the story and looking back. You
know, when you're in that situation, it's difficult,
but now that it's in the past, it's just. Yeah, it was tough, but when
it's. When you're actually living through it, which is the worst
of it all, I suppose. It sounds. Time seems to crawl.
Like, if you want to know how to slow time down, because, like, you hear
that, right? People say, how do we slow time down? And time
moves so fast, I'm like, wait for heart surgery. That will
slow time down. Exactly. Yeah. When
you're in it, you're pretty miserable. You're not feeling great, but once it's in
your past, it's hard to really associate with that again. Like, I know it
happened, but I feel pretty good now, so it's hard to say
how bad I did feel. But, yeah, you know, some tough times for sure. Anyone
that goes through that. Yeah. So your surgery was open
hearted. Yep. And do you remember how many
days you were in the hospital? Because if you were 28, you were
probably out in a blip. Yeah, it was no
more than a week I was out. They let me because there's a.
At least in the United States, and I would think it'd be the same in
Canada. As a rule of thumb, for every decade you're
alive equals one day in the hospital after heart
surgery. Okay. Yeah. I hadn't heard about that rule, but it wasn't far
off there. It was probably four to five days when I finally
got to go home. Certainly was no more than a week. Yeah. I'm just
wondering, like, with a spring chicken like you, like,
how quickly they let you out. Cause I was like, you know, at the time,
I was 42, and I was in
the hospital for four days after surgery, so it was,
like, on the dot, and I was doing so well. I could have gotten
out in three. But they said they were sticking to that rule of
thumb on purpose because it really does matter
how, like, it really is a proven
formula. I was quite
agitated, I guess, or irritated. My family told me that I
didn't really realize when I'm in it that I was not being the most friendly.
I mean, I wasn't yelling or swearing at anyone, but my family came to visit.
And as you probably know, you're just not in a normal head space. You're
drugged up. Everything hurts. So that was one of the pieces of feedback
I got was that I wasn't very polite.
But, yeah, that was an interesting
thing to go through as well. Like, one memory I have was when they first
got me up to walk around, which, as you know, they want to do pretty
quickly after your surgery, get you moving. And again, it's tough to
think back to that. I was actually in this situation, but
I could barely make a few steps down the hallway. And
it's like, yeah, that actually happened. It almost seems like a dream sometimes,
but I could barely walk in a lot of pain.
But, yeah, I was good enough to be sent home after that short period
of time and spent a lot of time on the couch after that.
So I had several questions. First of all, do you know the
name of the genetic condition that caused both
your mom and you to need a mitral replacement?
It would be mitral valve prolapse, from my understanding.
Okay. Okay. And what
medications are you on now?
I'm on warfarin, which is a blood thinner and also a
baby aspirin every day. Now, I think the aspirin part is not
necessarily for everyone. It's at the doctor's discretion. My mom doesn't take
it, but she is also on warfarin. So for now,
hopefully the foreseeable future. That's it. Or maybe even less if we get
a technological advancement someday where we don't need the
warfarin, or at least a better version of that. Cause if you know
about warfarin, it messes with your diet and what you can eat.
But, yeah, that's all for medication. Okay. And
I mean, from all the heart patients I've had the honor of talking with
over the past couple of years, if that's all you're
on, good for you.
I think so, too. I know when I first came out of surgery, there is
a couple others that I was on. One of them is quite,
quite serious in terms of side effects and people not wanting to
be on it. So I was happy to get those ones out of my life.
And, yeah, hoping that it can remain this way.
So, one of the many reasons why I started this podcast
was so folks could hear from the patient's perspective
what you've done for us. Thank you. And I would love to have a
conversation about the mental, emotional,
spiritual parts of your journey, because
I have found that our medical
industry and I do feel like it's more of an industry at
times. At least it can feel that way. The medical professionals
are really great at saving our life and keeping us alive,
and then that's about it. And then we're kind of
left to figure out how to bring the rest of our soul
along. And how
have you experienced life, engaged
with life since heart surgery? Like, do you
feel like things have shifted within you? Do you feel like you're a different
person? Like, how have you shifted
mentally, emotionally, spiritually? Mm hmm.
That's a great question and something that I really admired about your journey,
because if I understand correctly, and correct me if I'm wrong, you
kind of. You were so grateful that you ended up going through it because
of the changes that it imparted on your life, which is really
admirable. You were really positive and optimistic about the whole
thing. So, yeah, that definitely crossed my mind before I was going in there, and
I thought, you know, this could, the odds weren't
showing this, but this could be my last day of life, could be my last
day seeing my family. I don't know, like, will I be a changed person
when I come out of this and be so grateful for every day?
I don't think that. I don't think I was grateful
enough. So I wasn't really on the path and the mindset that you
had, although I would have liked to been. But I know in the years following
the surgery. I just went through a lot of transformation and self
improvement as it was. And I am pretty mindful and
grateful of everything that I have, the fact that the surgery went so well,
the life that I've built. So it's hard for me
to attribute a huge shift in my thinking to that.
Although, like I said, I would have loved to really feel that way like
you did. And I think it's important to be mindful of that and
have that mindset, because it is easy to just slip
back into just the day to day and not really being grateful
for the life that you've been given. Whether it's because of a heart
surgery that allowed you to live a healthy life past
when, you know, perhaps you would have, or if you don't have any health
issues at all, there's nothing wrong with being grateful. I think it's very important to
do so. In terms of a big shift, I didn't really
get what I expected. I thought I would be a little more.
I thought it would be a bigger shift or I just wake up every day,
you know, looking at the sky, but it didn't really happen that way.
But I still am so grateful for everything that I have in life
and the fact that I'm here and every day that I am able to live
healthily. So perhaps that did play a role. It just didn't really.
Maybe I wasn't in tune enough with myself to really
pick up on where that came from. If that makes sense,
that could be it. And not to play the age card, but
it kind of does. Like, I am. Like, I was in my forties by the
time I heart surgery came around. So I'd already been around the block a few
times with other challenges, and I'd already spent quite a bit of
time in therapy for other reasons. And also I
had been really, um, growing my awareness
muscle. And you're in your twenties, and I. I mean, I think back
into my twenties, I probably would have had the exact same answer you just
gave. So every decade has its
own level of self reflection and awareness.
But, yeah, as you age, things do
hit differently. Not that I'm a whole lot older than you,
but. Well, I appreciate hearing that because it helps me feel better
about it. Perhaps because I thought maybe I'm not grateful enough or why
didn't I have that big shift? So that. That makes it make
a lot of sense. I'm not here grading you. I'm not going to give you,
like, a letter grade. And
I. On your experience, I mean, everyone's
experience is so personal,
and I just can't emphasize that enough,
actually, because you're not the first person who has reflected back to
me. Like, I'm not saying. You just said, am I doing it wrong? But,
like, people are worried, am I not this? Am I not
enough of this, or am I too much of that? And we're all having
the experience we need to have in any given day
with any challenge we're given. It's just so unique,
and I love that you are just like, well, this is just how
it was. Like, that is fine. It's more than fine. It's
your real lived experience that is a
great reminder. Yes. Because everything is uniquely yours. And now
that I'm saying it out loud and you're talking to me about it, I'm thinking,
why would you even think, like, it has to be a certain way. Yeah. Please
don't put that pressure on yourself. Right. Yeah.
And I've thought about that again. You just look back, and I know that I
went through it, but it was just like, it was a big deal. But people
can look in, you can share this story with them, and they would think, wow,
that's scary. I would never want to have to go through that. What was it
like? That's. Instead they cut you open. Wow. But when you're going through it,
you're just going through it. Like, I don't know. I didn't have a choice. It
just happened. And I got you go through the recovery, and here we
are. Yeah. It's a different perspective. Having actually gone
through it, I think, versus what the general public would think who wouldn't have to
go through. Just like I would think about anyone with any other medical condition.
Wow. I'm glad I don't have to go through that. But as heart surgery patients,
we had to go through that one, and we know all about it. It's a
moment. It is a hard moment, but it is a moment. And
I was just trying to remember the other day, my
journey, because it's, you know, been a few years now.
I cannot remember getting ready to go to the hospital.
I don't remember packing for it. I don't remember. I barely
remember the drive. It's like a five hour drive from here.
Wow. There's just parts that I just don't remember anymore.
And that's great. There's other parts that are just like it
happened, but, yeah, it's. The brain
has an amazing way of organizing our memory and
tucking things away until either we're ready to deal with it
or if we're done dealing with it, and we just file that away as, like,
a done file. Put that in the done pile. Right? Like, we're all
done with that. We don't need to revisit that memory. Oh, no, we need to
revisit this. We're going to put this in the still to process pile.
So. Yeah, I'm surprised. Yeah, that's quite interesting. I would
have thought perhaps there's some trauma. Maybe there is, but
traumatic reason that it would stand out, or perhaps it wouldn't stand out,
and you would forget it for that same reason. I don't know a whole lot
about the brain, but I know for me there were several key moments that I
do remember. Some poorly and some, like,
for in a positive manner. So, yeah, I definitely have a bit of a
different experience there than you when it comes to that. Anyway.
Yeah. Well, before we go, I want to
hear what is some advice
you would like to give to heart patients listening that
really served you well. And what do you wish you had
known going into your surgery? Hmm. Yeah. Well, I
guess I just assumed and hoped that it was gonna be fine.
I guess there's no way to actually know it was gonna be fine,
but, yeah, I mean, my. My best advice, and I don't. I don't
know, this feels kind of generic or like, it's not that useful,
but it's the best thing that I could say, is just that.
Yeah. Except that it is gonna be fine. That's all I could. That's all I
could do is know that it is gonna be okay and just handle it one
day at a time. So it seems daunting. It seems scary. You don't
feel very good for. For weeks and weeks after the fact,
but just have that hope and that reassurance that it's going to be okay.
Like, yes, I went through that. As I said, it's hard for me to kind
of reflect and remember that I was that guy who could barely walk
a few steps down the hallway, or I had had my family help with my.
My dog because I couldn't move. I was just lying on the couch, you know,
letting my scar heal, and I. I'm fine. That was just a moment in
time. It took, whatever, three, six months, and it was. It was
rough. But after that, I was up. I was okay. And I've been living a
very, very great life ever since. You know, I don't really notice that there's
anything ever, ever was done with my heart, aside from the medication.
There's a few minor things but I'm just glad to be here and that was
just a moment in my life. And for anyone else
that's facing something like that, I certainly hope. I think it will be the same.
You know, you'll, you'll be fine, you'll get through it and life goes
on. I could not agree more. I endorse your message.
I appreciate your approval. It means a lot.
Well, Joel, thank you so much for your time
today. And how can listeners find you if they need
to reach out for more inspiration? Sure, yeah.
Publicly contact me through my business. That's the great
we're on Instagram, LinkedIn. However you, however you want to communicate is fine, but
the easiest thing for me to say is the website
eastcoaststudio.com dot all the social media there.
That's all me on there. So you're not going to get my assistant or anything
like that. You can communicate right with me and we can chat further about
whatever I can help with in terms of the heart surgery life.
Perfect. Well, thanks for your time today, Joel, and I'll have everything
in the show notes as well. So we wish you well in Calgary
and keep kicking ass. Thank you boots. I appreciate you as
well and everything you're doing. Hey heart buddies,
thank you for sharing a few beats of your day with me today.
Please be sure to follow or subscribe to this podcast
wherever you are listening. Also be sure to
share with a friend who will value what we discussed.
Additionally, I love your feedback. It is so
encouraging when I hear from you listeners and it
helps me continue to put out good content
that I know you want to hear. So be sure to
drop me an
email@bootsheheartchamberpodcast.com.
again, I am your host bootsnighton and
thanks for listening. Be sure to tune in next
Tuesday for another episode on open
heart Surgery with Boots.