Glenn Dennis, 61, said that he felt like he was drowning last October when he couldn’t catch his breath.
“I was afraid … I really didn’t know what was going on,” recalls Dennis, adding that there was no warning sign that anything was doing only badly with his health.
“I was very prudent with my life, very cautious of what I ate. It was a real shock which, all of a sudden, (I was) as sick, “the man told Scarborough to Global News.
Dennis called 911 and was transported urgently to the General Hospital of Scarborough in Toronto. The tests showed an infection in his heart called endocarditis.
Dennis four days after vital thermal surgery.
Glenn Dennis
Dr. Subodh Verma, cardiac-scientific surgeon and professor at the University of Toronto, said the situation was very serious and fatal.
“He had a serious infection involving two of the main valves of the heart, the endocarditis of the aortic valve and the endocarditis of the mitral valve,” said Verma. “There was in fact more and an abscess that had formed in the heart.”
“When we saw this patient, he was in deep heart failure,” said Verma.
But an emergency operation gave Dennis the possibility of living.
“After seven hours, he had two new valves and a heart without infection,” said Verma. “Then the fight really started in the USI to make sure it could really spend the next few days.”
How do endocarditis infections occur?
Endocarditis is a relatively rare condition.
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“Infections are slowly preparing, and generally there is a kind of indolent period when infections have the impression of having a fever or that you will not be well,” said Verma.
Infection can occur in several ways. People can be infected with contaminated needles and drug use. But this was not the case for Dennis, added Verma.
Infections can also occur through dental work or other invasive procedures where bad bacteria are introduced. People with lower immune systems are also at a higher risk level.
“In some cases, we fail either because bacteria are too strong or because the host is weak or, in many cases, we simply do not know,” he said.
Dr Subodh Verma.
Global News
Doctors warn that time is essential when managing this type of infection.
“If you cannot control it quickly, heart failure, pulmonary insufficiency, kidney failure, the risk of having a stroke and the risk of dying are extremely high,” said Verma.
As Dennis learned it, for some patients, including his case, the cause is never found.
“No one has a final answer.”
Verma said that if the infection is captured early, in many cases it can be treated with antibiotics.
“But once it comes to this point where the valve and the heart have such destruction, there are no antibiotics that will really work. You need definitive surgery.
Verma said people should be aware of the potential signs and symptoms that are out of the ordinary. Current symptoms include fever, feelings of discomfort and fatigue and sweats or nocturnal sweats that are unusual.
“Do not write these things, because in many cases, these infections do not get up, you know, they do not go from zero to 100 overnight,” said Verma.
Less common symptoms include unexplained weight loss, blood in the urine, sensitivity under the left rib cage or a red, purple or brown flat stain on the sole of the feet or palms of the hands of a person.
After 20 years in operating rooms, Verma said he was still in admiration for what hearts teach him.
“Whenever I open the chest and I see it, what a miraculous organ. Colors, strength, energy. This is incredible what this organ has. And then you can see there every time … the reader to want to beat, you know, he does not want to stop.
Dennis made a strong recovery and took advantage of time with his children and friends. He also deepens his photography hobby.
This Valentine’s Day will be special because Dennis celebrates the heart at the same time cured and his birthday on February 14.
“It’s a kind of new lease on life is the way you look at it,” said Dennis. “One of the doctors says,” God has another plan for you “. I don’t know what it is yet, but he says he was not ready for me. “”
