My husband has a big heart

("full of love for you!" is what HE says.)

This is what happens when I go to doctors appointments with my husband-

doc- "it's time"
mike- (no words, just grins at the doctor)
doc- "you need this surgery within the month"
mike- "what?"
me- "and by month, you mean MONTH?"

I can't say we didn't know this day would come sometime, I just don't think either one of us realized it would be so soon. Mike has a congenital heart defect in the form of a bicuspid aortic valve. Basically his valve doesn't close as much as it's supposed to, causing back flow, causing him to have an enlarged left ventricle. (I'm sure there's more to it than that, but that's all I really got from it). He is followed every 3-6 months to re-measure everything and in the last 3 months the growth rate was a lot higher than in the past. There is a point of no return, where if it gets to be that size, it causes permanent damage- he is simply getting too close to that point. We are currently in a whirlwind of decision making. We were told "go somewhere you have support"- only problem, there's no where even on this side of the country that has that. Lucky we have friends and family that are always willing to offer support from afar! Past that, it's really a crap shoot, isn't it? We simply have to choose a doctor and hospital and get a consult. The doctor has to determine what surgery is best for him. There was talk of a fancy robot, which makes it less invasive with less recovery. We're pretty sure that one is not going to ideal for Mike, but we won't know for sure until talking with a surgeon. More than likely he will need open-heart surgery to replace his aortic valve with something else (with what is another to be determined piece). Within a month or so.

My head is spinning a bit.