I need some wine please

I'm back from Dallas. I had a cardiac cat scan yesterday and met with my surgeon today to discuss surgery.

Good news: The tumor only appears to be attached to the sac outside of my heart. It should be fairly "easy" to remove.

Not so good news: The cardiac cat scan showed a very interesting discovery of my anatomy. I have a congenital heart defect that has gone unnoticed for 26 years. Crazy. Simply put, I should have 2 coronary arteries attached to my aorta supplying oxygenated blood to my heart, but I only have one. The other coronary attery is attached to my pulmonary artery. The one that is supplying the oxygenated blood is doing a great job! It is a lot larger than it should be because it has been overcompensating. Of all the tests I have had in the last 6 years, only the one I had yesterday showed the defect. The surgeon said only certain tests show it. I also had no symptoms. I did sports in high school, and am still very active and other than a few palpitaions I had no reason to think something was wrong with my heart. The cardiac cat scan was to better see the tumor!!! Often the first symptom is something very scary that I'm not going to type, so I'm anxious to get this fixed.

So now, not only do I have to get the tumor removed but I need the heart defect corrected. I am going to see a specialist at Texas Children's-usually these problems are corrected during infancy/early childhood. They will try to coordinate so I can have it all done at one time. I will have a cardiac cath done next week and then possibly a little more chemo just to keep me safe until surgery. The surgeon who is removing the tumor is going out of town for 2 weeks (ugh, i know) so the surgery will not be for at least 3 more weeks. Blah.