(Revised/Updated on August 10, 2020)

Heart patient?

Yes heart patient.

Since birth, a noise was discovered around the heart.Can you call yourself then already a heart patient?
You are still very young and still growing.

Just going for a checkup every year and sometimes skipping a year.
When you get older and go towards 10-12 years, you still don’t see yourself as a heart patient.
You don’t know any better and every time you go for a checkup, you see it as an outing.

When I was 12 years old and the technology had developed further, it was discovered that the noise was a leaky heart valve.

Some things were explained, but at that age, it doesn’t get fully through to you.
You understand that you have some “restrictions”.
Like, if you get tired, then stop!
Listen to your body.
Be careful during gym and sorts.

If you then tell this to a few classmates, they will first look at you in a strange way.
But if you suddenly stop and rest during the gym or a bike ride, then they start to look more confused.
Some used this as an opportunity to bully you.
But I had never really cared much about that.

But again, to label yourself as a 12-year-old as a heart patient?
No, I didn’t think about that.

As a child, you learn to live with it.