Rene

Age at interview: 84

Brief Outline:

Rene was invited to attend screening for unrecognised heart valve disease in early 2011. She already knew that she had a heart valve problem and was unsurprised when a further problem was discovered. We spoke to her once after she had been to both the initial and follow-up appointments.

Background:

Rene is a retired typist. She is widowed and has three grown-up children. Ethnic background' White British.

More about me...

Rene has a long history of heart problems. She also suffers with irritable bowel syndrome and cervical spondylosis (wear and tear of the vertebrae and discs in the neck), both of which interfere more with her lifestyle than her heart complaints. Before she went to be screened, she was aware that she had some problems with one of her heart valves, the aorta, and was, therefore, unsurprised to learn that she had a new problem. She was told that there was some “stickiness” in another valve, the mitral valve.

 

She was keen to participate in the screening because there are a lot of people in her family who have heart problems, including her daughter and her sixteen year old grandson. So, she wanted to do anything she could to help them, but also thought it would be a good opportunity to have her heart checked. 

 

Like others who had been diagnosed with heart valve problems, Rene attended two appointments. At the second, follow-up appointment, which took place four days later, she underwent tests that she thought were more “thorough”, but nothing further was found then. Usually after screening, patients receive a letter detailing their results. However, when we spoke to Rene, just over a week after her appointments, the letter had not yet arrived.

 

Rene was pleased with her overall experience of being screened for heart valve disease and thought the location of the appointments was convenient. She also said she found the staff very pleasant and reassuring and, whilst she did not mind if they had been male or female, she was happier that she was seen by a woman as she did not feel “so self-conscious”.

 

Rene and several others in her family have had heart problems. She was conscious both of her own health but also helping future generations, including her own grandson who has a heart murmur.

I was very interested in it because there’s been so much heart trouble in my family.

 

And can you tell me a bit about that?

 

Well, my mother and father both died of heart problems. And I lost a brother age thirty-nine with heart trouble. And I have a daughter now who’s fifty-six and she’s had a valve operation, a repaired valve, and that was about five years ago. She’s still having trouble and has an awful job to lead a normal life. And we’ve got similar problems, but she’s got a weight problem – she’s over twenty stone – so I think that adds to her problems. But we’ve got similar problems like the valves and things like that. And we find that we have bad turns. I’ve had bad turns since I was twelve, when I had a rheumatic heart, and I had dizziness then. But now over the years I’ve had bad turns when I cycled, swam or anything, and found that I had to rest up for a few days afterwards. But as I got older – I’ve managed to have three children – I’ve lived a pretty full life, and I’ve travelled, and I’ve just enjoyed my life very much.

 

That’s good. Tell me about these bad turns. What do you mean by that? What happens?

 

Well my heart starts racing. I feel as if I’m going to collapse. And my blood pressure usually goes up to over 200 these days. And I find that I have to rest for a few days after it. But recently I hadn’t had so many. But I was a migraine sufferer and I think that, on the whole, I did very well considering all the things that I had wrong with me, but I’ve always enjoyed life.

 

And in terms of your heart problems, and specifically the heart valve problems that you have, do they worry you much?

 

Well, you get to learn to live with it. I mean from twelve I was told, my mother and father were told, that I was never to bath with the door locked or anything like – this is, I’m talking about 1939, this is when I was twelve. And of course I wanted a bike and things like that and they’d never stopped me. But of course I’d have the consequences maybe the next day if I cycled too far. But really - and of course I got married and I wanted children and my mother and father were worried. But of course I’m rather wayward [laughs].

 

And in terms of the heart valve screening, you got the letter and you decided you’d like to go along for that.

 

Yes.

 

So can you tell me what made your mind up about going?

 

Well, I just like to think that I can help a bit. As I said, I have the, with my family history, and now I’ve got a grandson who is sixteen, and has got his first pilot license, which I’m very proud of. But they found with his medical for this, they found a murmur and I’d like to know that he will benefit from it.

 

OK. So you thought that it might help.

 

So I thought it might help him some way. But also I’m booking a ninetieth party and I want to hang around for that long [laughs]. 

Rene finds it physically difficult to lie on her side. The ultrasonographer doing the scan was very thoughtful and made sure she was raised up and comfortable.

And at the first appointment that you went to did you have to take off your clothes?

 

Oh yes.

 

Right and how did you feel about that?

 

Well I mean when you get to my age, you’ve had quite a few medical problems, you get quite used to it. And they, she was so gentle and very, very thoughtful that I didn’t feel at all embarrassed or anything.

 

That’s good. And did you have to lie on your side?

 

Yes.

 

And how did you find that?

 

Well I’ve got this imbalance in my left ear, which is – I’ve had for about twenty four years – which has been a nuisance to me. And I got cervical spondylosis at the back of the neck as well. And I wear a collar especially a lot of the time in bed. And I found, she was so good, the nurse, she raised – I can’t lay back flat, you see; I have five pillows of a night – so, she was very thoughtful and very kind the way she got me to do it.

 

So did you explain to her that you had difficulty lying down?

 

Oh yeah, I did say to her, and she instantly did something about it and raised me up – yeah, no problem at all. 

Rene already knew she had a problem with her mitral valve; the screening showed a problem with the aortic valve too, but it is not serious. Rene says at 84 'you count your blessings'.

And then did she tell you your results that day?

 

She said there was no problems much. She said that I knew that I had the – I’ve forgotten the name of the valve.

 

Was it the aorta?

 

The, not the aorta, it was the other one that I’ve known for years, that [my doctor] found that...

 

The mitral?

 

The mitral valve was a slight leak, not anything serious. And she said the aorta, there was a little bit of stickiness there or something. But she said, “There’s nothing to worry about”. I said, “Will I be able to go to my 90^th party?” [laughs].

 

I’m sure she said yes [laughs].

 

She did. She said, “I think you’ve got a pretty good chance”.

 

And when she told you that you had the problem with the aorta valve, did it worry you?

 

No.

 

No?

 

No. No, 84, you just, you count your blessings [laughs]. Each day is a bonus.

 

OK. So she told you about this problem...

 

She was very gentle the way she said it. She said, “There is a slight thing,” she said, “There’s nothing to worry about.”

 

And did you find that reassuring that she was telling you...

 

Oh yes...

 

.. it’s nothing to worry about?

 

Yes. She was very reassuring. Wonderful, couldn’t have been nicer.

 

And so now that you know that you have that problem how do you feel?

 

I’ve just accepted it. Because quite honestly I can’t do what I’m used to but as my daughter reminded me this morning, “Mother, you are 84.” [Laughs] And that I’ve got eight grandchildren that always want, all want me to do things with them. They always say, “Come on, Nan, you can do it.” [Laughs].