A patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a connection, or hole, between two chambers of the heart that can allow blood clots to cross and enter the brain, leading to an ischemic stroke.
Three young survivors of stroke share their personal experiences of finding out about their PFO and having a PFO closure.
Transcript
Sophie: First, my brain is broken now my heart is broken. Howare you at pronouncing the full name for PFO?
Chris: Nah.. no good.
Sophie: Go on, give it a go.
Chris: Patent.. Foramen.. Ov.. Ovalé?
Sophie: Patent Foramen Ova-lee?
Chris: Ov-ale.
Sophie: Prevail.
Chris: I dunno.
What is a PFO?
Shannon: It’s a hole in the heart between the right and the left atria, the top chambers of the heart.
Sophie: Well done. You're good.
Shannon: I’m a nurse!
Sophie: Oh of course!
How did you learn you had a PFO?
Chris: So, I just had the stroke and I think it was the day after. Maybe. I was still in hospital and they took me through to do the bubbletest.
I think they were looking, and then somebody in the room was just like, “Whoa, look at that!” like, “that's a that's a pretty big hole you’ve got there”, and I was like… ah..
Sophie: The cardiologist was really busy that day. And she came in, had a quick look, and she was like, “oh yep, that's definitely a hole in your heart. You’ll have to get that closed.” And she kind of just left.
They know that it's not the end of the world. But for me, I didn't know that. So I was like: my life is over. I'm going to die. This is it.
Were you nervous to get a PFO closure?
Shannon: Not really, because I knew I had to get it done. So that meant I wasn't going to have a stroke because of the hole in the heart.
Chris: I was fairly accepting of it just needs to occur. I just.. yeah.
Sophie: I was so nervous. I was scared.
What was the procedure like?
Chris: It was fairly.. it was all in a day, I guess, got picked up in the afternoon and it was done and there's no real pain associated with it. Just the incision I guess, down near the femoral artery in the groin there. But then even that was pretty good.
Shannon: I went in to the hospital at 12 o’clock and they did me around 5 o’clock and they went through my groin and placed the device in the hole in the heart. And I was out the next day. It was really easy and I was so relieved that it was done.
Do you feel different now?
Shannon: No, not at all. No. (Same)
Chris: If anything, it's given me the confidence to get back out and do the stuff that I that I enjoy and I definitely needed to confirm that with as many people as I could.
I felt like I needed to ask the GP, and ask the cardiologistand then ask the cardiologist maybe again in that same meeting.
But yeah, I'd almost have a list of things like I enjoy, you know, surfing. Can I surf? It’s like yes, you should be able to surf. You should surf. And I was like, ok cool, can I run long distances? Yeah sweet, you should be able, if your body can hold up.
Sophie: Yeah, I ran marathons with a hole in my heart, and I still run marathons now that it's been closed. So yeah, if there’s anyone that's like, worried that they're not going be able to exercise or get their heart rate up after it. That hasn't been my experience.
