Photos of a 6.7 Haller Index
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Below is a chest X-ray from August 2015. Doesn't my heart look gigantic? (The plate and pins on my left are from when I picked a fight with a Pontiac in 1995, and I lost. Pedestrians generally don't do well against cars.)
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Above is my CT scan from August 2015. As you can see, my heart is fully in the left side of my chest. (You're looking from my stomach up to my head.) Please don't judge the layer of adipose around me. I am working on it, and looking forward to the day when I can exercise freely again.
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Below is the CT scan from 2007, when I had my first workup. My cartilage hasn't changed in eight years (thought the fat has increased....), but the structure is the same. This shows how close my sternum is to my spine.
At the time, I was told I was too old for the Nuss by Dr Partric at Children's in Colorado. He was very kind, but the answer was no, and I understand why. He is a pediatric surgeon.
My other choice was to have an open Ravitch. In 2007, I was an ICU nurse, a single woman with my savings gone (ex-husbands are expensive). Though I would have been guaranteed to keep my job through FMLA...how long until I would have been able to work? How long until my chest would have been strong enough even to lift patients, much less perform CPR? An ICU nurse cannot work if she cannot perform CPR. And during that time off...how long would I have been able to manage my rent? What if I had complications, and ended up being out for a year? Those are not small concerns. So I didn't push it.
At the time, I was told I was too old for the Nuss by Dr Partric at Children's in Colorado. He was very kind, but the answer was no, and I understand why. He is a pediatric surgeon.
My other choice was to have an open Ravitch. In 2007, I was an ICU nurse, a single woman with my savings gone (ex-husbands are expensive). Though I would have been guaranteed to keep my job through FMLA...how long until I would have been able to work? How long until my chest would have been strong enough even to lift patients, much less perform CPR? An ICU nurse cannot work if she cannot perform CPR. And during that time off...how long would I have been able to manage my rent? What if I had complications, and ended up being out for a year? Those are not small concerns. So I didn't push it.
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That's me (the shortest one at 5' 5 1/2") in 2009, when I used to be able to hike with my friends at 8,000 feet elevation. It's Pitkin Creek in Vail Valley, only six years ago.
I've looked for ANY photographs that would show my rib flare. This was the last photograph I have of me in a cute little t-shirt. I'm really, really good at wearing clothes that hide it. Summer or winter. I've looked through every photograph I own, and I found three photographs that might have showed my rib flare. And in two of them (the one to the right is one too), my posture or stance hides it. Mark has offered to take a photo of my, and I will. At some point. No, I'm not excited to do it until I have a DATE when something can be done about it. |
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Above is me at the summit of Mt. Democrat, 14,128 feet above sea level in 1997 (or 1996?). My training for that? I hiked 2 - 3 hours per week, that's it. Yes, I was younger but when I look at that, I just get incredibly frustrated and angry. When you live in Colorado, EVERYBODY exercises. Age is so much more Just A Number here, more than any other state. If you want to train for an Iron Man while you benefit from your membership with AARP, this is the state to do it. And I LOVE the outdoors. And I cannot. Freaking. Do. This. Anymore. and it makes me MAD AS HELL.
To the right is the only photograph I have of me that even remotely shows the rib flare. It was taken in 2001, on the drive up to Mt. Evans. I look funny in clothes. Any clothes People don't think they stare. They do. Some women get tired of looking at their breasts. I get tired of people looking at my stomach, assuming I'm pregnant. Dude, it gets old.. |
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My posture in that image isn't so great, either, but you can sort of see the rib flare on the left. My ribs flare out at least two inches further than where the base of my bra sits, each rib. My mother and her mother measure 36". I can wear a 32". (My hair is not normally red. My friend Katie does my hair, and every few years I want her to make it red.)
The photo to the right was taken August 2015. She's just done it red for me again. |
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