Your were lucky not to have your heart damaged, I was not so fortunate, I was left with a damaged Mitral valve, and in 1967 had my first heart op, this kept me going until almost 3 years ago, when I had two replacement valves, Mitral and Aorta, however, as far as the heart is concerned, I`m fine now (when its quiet its easy to hear me "ticking) its great though what modern medical advances can do. My only problem now is that I`m disabled because of Osteoporosis, sadly that had not been diagnosed before I went into hospital (the London Chest) and whilst there, my spine fractured, according to my GP I had had "wear & tear" arthritis and would be given the usual painkillers... gradually becoming stronger, but which were useless against the pain, so if I had not been in hospital for the heart surgery, goodness knows when it would have been properly diagnosed, as it was, they were the ones who arranged for a bone scan and subsequent treatment, and fortunately for me, I now see a pain consultant, who has finally found an effective pain reliever (Oxycontin)
so I have been very lucky, trouble is, I have been left with a mistrust of GPs
