Matters of the Heart

Had a heart check up today, on a 5 yearly basis I have to have a routine check to see if my ticker is working correctly; due to a heart murmur that I have had since birth. It's actually nothing major at all and does not affect me in any way. But today I went to have it assessed because of a Life Assurance policy that I'm joining.

It was quite funny how excited my GP got, when he had to do the examinations. He himself, having a heart murmur, thought it was great to compare war stories. We had a session where he listened to my heart and then listened to his own; almost like old veterans showing off their old battle scars. Doctor Y (I can't for the life of me spell his surname) even let me put on the stethoscope to listen for myself.

A normal persons heart makes a rhythmic "dup-dup" noise. Mine on the other hand due to the murmur, or the correct terminology for my particular case, a VSD (ventricular septal defect) makes a "shoop-shoo" noise while his makes a "swoosh" noise. The contrast kind of indicates just how minor mine is.

In an extreme case of a murmur one can't really do sports or live an active lifestyle. In minor cases such as mine, I'm able to live a completely normal life; and have never had a problem which is good thing; because I just can't seem to sit still, sometimes (especially in my younger years) to the worry of my overprotective mother (as all Chinese mothers are).