Life is still good. People are inherently

amazing and just because something happens to

you doesn't mean that you were wronged. This the hand that you have been

dealt. Play it because this is your journey in life and there are

going to be some amazing parts of it. Enjoy it.

Welcome to Open Heart Surgery with Boots and our

special holiday series, Hope for the

Holidays. Ta da. I'm Boots Knighton, and

this season we're revisiting some of our most inspiring

stories. Guests who faced daunting heart

surgeries and have beaten the odds and are

now thriving reminders of resilience and

hope. This series is our way of celebrating

not only their strength, but also showcasing

that hope is possible for all of us in times

of struggle. If you love the podcast,

please consider joining our Patreon community. You can find

us at patreon.com

openheartsurgerywithboots that will help keep this

podcast on the air and these stories coming. Of

course I want to hear from you. Send me your feedback, your

concerns, your best recipes for

holiday cookies, whatever feels good to you. I want to hear from

you. You can send me an email

bootsheartchamber podcast.com

without further ado, I'm so excited to bring you today's

guest and I can't wait to hear from you. Welcome back

to another episode of Open Heart Surgery with Boots. I

am so thrilled to be doing this series of Hope

for the Holidays where I am bringing back

guests that have been on the podcast kind of really from the

beginning. I'm going way back into

2023. Of course, that's not very long ago, but it

feels like it when I put out an episode every single week.

And this week I wanted to bring back Bill Wingate

from Birmingham, Alabama. And Bill, thank you so

much for coming back. You have just become such a great heart

buddy of mine. And I want to also call

out Bill and thank Bill publicly for financially supporting

this podcast, for sending me words of

encouragement, and for just meeting me with grace as I fumble

through this learning curve that is hosting a podcast.

And so one of the reasons why I keep showing up every

week are for people like Bill. And I think

that once you hear his quick update on how he's

doing, you will feel the same. So, Bill, welcome

back, my friend. Well, Boots, thank you for the opportunity yet again

to join you and talk with you and as well

as people who listen to this who are also heart patients, because

there are an awful lot of us around and it's not something that you

usually don't find them in your everyday life. So it's great for you. You've

built this community to where it is now. Thank you. Thank you. So

give us the 50,000 foot view of. And I should

say before you do that, listeners, I am going to have his original

episode in the show notes. And holy cow, is it

worth listening to. He did such an incredible job when

we recorded his episode of telling his story. So do consider

going back and listening to that. But Bill, give us again like

the Cliff Notes of the last 27 years. Well,

the past 27 years I have been a substantial

heart patient. I was in College in 1997 and learned

that I had aortic stenosis and regurgitation, which several

months after I learned this information led me to my

first of four, as of today, open heart surgeries.

And so in these past 27 years, I've had a total load, as I

said, four opens. I've had seven heart valves replaced,

I've had numerous heart caps, I've had all kinds

of crazy test and procedures done. I've had from blood

issues to unusual infections from

the dental office. So it has been a long

run of highs and lows. And I feel

like at this point I've gotten to be a really good patient. And

I had a heart surgeon look at me after my last surgery saying, you've got

to find a new hobby. Open heart surgery is not the best one for you.

So hopefully we're on a run that I don't have to do it again. So

is the hope and the prayer. So that's what we are hoping for.

And so that's, that's my story in a nutshell. And seven valves,

four opens, and a lot of other junk to go along the way. Yeah, yeah,

junk is right. But here you are and you're doing great. Like

looking at you through the screen, you would never know that you

have been on the adventure that you've been on. So

where you're at now, where do you stand

emotionally, spiritually, mentally?

That's a, that's a great question because I had my last surgery in

January of 2023 and that one

did a lot more damage to me

mentally or and emotionally than I would even say physically.

The, the physical recovery was, I'll describe it as typical to the rest of

mine. Um, it wasn't bad. It was a couple months and you

felt pretty good. Emotionally, I was a mess. It took a

while. And just the gravity of four major surgeries

and all the anesthesia and all the weird

one offs that have really. That I've survived hit me

hard and I started a writing project during this

time trying to figure out how to tell my story. And it's evolved over the

past year and a half. But it all comes down to where all

my current work is. And it's all about telling stories of

hope, love and gratitude in everything that we do. And with those

three values, you can get through almost anything and it changes your

perspective on everything that you do. And so that has really

helped me get through the emotional hurdles of the past

20 plus years, 27 years now. But it's, it's a work in progress

every day and it's a great opportunity that I have and I want to be

sure to share, share it as I go along. And we'll have that in the

show notes too. And what has

been the common thread through the 27

years that has been maybe the most

supportive or most helpful for you? For me, it

is, it is having hope and everything all

constantly around me and having hope for what is to come next because there

have been times where it couldn't have gotten any worse. And then being

grateful for everything that is around you and everything that

you get to experience. And yes, I've had

heart surgery. I've had it more than once. But that's

okay. The sun will come up tomorrow. I have, I have all

the hope in the world that the sun will come up tomorrow. Tomorrow will be

a be a better day. And some days they're

not, but most days they are. And that is what matters.

The days that you don't have hope or the darker days,

what gets you. Through the day on those days, I've just got to

cut myself a little bit more slack and I've got to be a little more

patient with myself. And after all that I've, I've been

through so far, I do have days that are like I physically

don't feel as good as I did the day before. And generally it's something

that I've done. I've burned the candle at both ends. I've gotten a pearly state

up late, done something I shouldn't have done, or I don't have the physical stamina

that I, a typical 48 year old would have. But then again, I am almost

50, so we can debate that in multiple different ways. But

I've got to be nicer to myself. And I've got to say, okay,

today's not going to be the day that I'm going to get 25 things on

my to do list done. I'm going to be happy with 10. And so I've

got to, I've just got to reframe the day and reframe the expectations. And

I'm very grateful that my daughter and my wife, they understand that.

Yeah. And so some days, some days are better than others and I'm. But

I'm very thankful these days that there are

much, much more good days than there are not so good

days. And that that feeling,

an act of hope is everything, isn't it? An act of

hope is everything. And that has really

become apparent to me over the past couple of weeks because

at the end of September I had my routine follow up with my surgeon, which

I had been doing over the past 10 years. We had been doing a,

a check in or a follow up scan every three, four

or six months. And so for the first time in 10 years, I get to

go an entire year between CT scans and

visiting with my surgeon, which is, it's bittersweet. I mean, it's a

great thing that I can live beyond the three month increment and enjoy

life and what's going to unfold before us. But these are friends that we've

made. These are parts of our family that I don't, that I've got to go

find other ways to meet up with them and catch up with them. But I

will take it. It's a win. And I'm looking forward to not walking

into that clinic nearly as frequent because I have a little bit of

PTSD every time I walk, every time I walk in the doors. Am I

walking out of this today as well? Right. Because sometimes you didn't get to walk

out. Some days I didn't get to. They would admit me. Yes.

Or I get to walk out and make my own decisions about what, what the

rest of the week at week holds. But, but I am very grateful for

the experiences I've had. I have great hope and

the research that is going on in this field. And in my 27

years, what I think is really neat and this is my

crazy view of reality, how the field of

cardiac thoracic medicine has changed in the 27

years. How the types of anesthesia they use

is so much better and easier on the body for me at least than it

was 27 years ago. Little things like that that I'm

very grateful for and I'm hoping in another 27 years that it's

even surpassed everything we could imagine. Yeah. My hope is

that they're doing all valve replacements through like the femoral

artery or something instead of opening a. I'm all for it. Wouldn't that be.

That's a walk. That's a walk in the park to have that done. I've. I've

had one of those. Yeah, that's easy. What a

perspective you have that really, I don't know many other heart patients

have, for better or for worse. And in closing,

going back 27 years, what would you

tell yourself? Like, if you could go back as you're starting

this journey telling your younger self, hey, you're about to

go through 27 years of really hard

stuff, right? What do you want that younger part of you to

know? Well, I mean, life is still good. People

are inherently amazing. And just

because something happens to you doesn't mean that you were wronged. You've just

been this the hand that you have been dealt. Play it. Because this is your

journey in life and there are going to be some amazing parts of

it. Enjoy it. This is going to be a time. There's going to be a

little bit of suffering, there's going to be some trials, but there's going to be

some tribulations as well. So enjoy it. And what

can you take from your experiences to

encourage teachers and enhance

the next generation? And this is why I invited you back on for the

series. You always have the most amazing wisdom and

perspective to share with others. And I, for one, benefit

greatly. So thank you, Bill, Wendy, and

can you just verbalize to us how listeners can find you should they want to

reach out? Well, Boots, before I do that, I thank you

for going on this journey and connecting heart

patients together because I have met several people that have been on the

podcast and told their story and it's fun to connect with other people who

have similar experiences, especially that are

younger than the typical open heart patient.

And so that has been a met, has been a lot of fun to meet.

But over the past year and a half, I've started my own writing project. It

is the start of what I'm hoping is a manuscript, a book. We're

still working through that, but you can find

me@williamwingate.com just like it sounds.

And it is, it is different. Post in a newsletter that is focusing

on hope, love and gratitude in everything that we do and everything that

we experience. Your future is bright. May you stay out of the

cath lab. Yes, please. I hope, I hope. Well, thank

you Bill and thank you listeners. And please

do consider becoming part of our Patreon

community. You can find the link in the show notes. This

podcast is only elevated by those

who support it and it definitely gives me a little wind in my

sails when I hear from listeners, so you can also send me an email

bootsheartchamber podcast.com

this podcast was formerly named the Heart Chamber. And do be

be sure to come back next week for another installment of

Hope for the Holidays. I love you, you matter and your

heart is your best friend.