The mitral or bicuspid valve is one of the four valves that keeps blood flowing through the heart. It is situated between the left atrium and left ventricle and opens and closes with every beat of the heart. The valve has two flaps tethered by fibrous cords (chordae tendineae) attached to papillary muscles in the apex of the ventricle. The long chordae tendineae help stop it from flipping inside out. The mitral valve allows blood to flow from the atrium into the ventricle, but prevents it from flowing in the opposite direction. When the heart muscle contracts, it squeezes blood through the atria and then through the ventricles.
Anna was suffering from what is known medically as Mitral Stenosis. This meant that the Mitral Valve was too narrow for her, the operation she had involved stretching the valve and cutting the fibrous cords (chordae tendineae) to increase blood flow. The way this was explained to us was: imagine that the Mitral valve is a parachute and the fibrous cords are the cords on the parachute, in Anna's case these cords have become tangled and need to be separated to increase blood flow.
Anna had her operation on 15th March 2001 at Great Ormond Street Hospital. She had already spent two days sedated in readiness for her operation. We all kissed her goodbye at 9.30am. Karl and James (our sons) were also with us. To try to keep our minds off of Anna's operation, my Mum, Dad and brother also came to the hospital to give us support. Anna was to returned to us five hours later.
The picture on the left was taken on the 16th March 2001, the day after her operation.
16th March 2001 - a close up of Anna's scar and chest drain tubes. The chest drain is for draining off any blood that has collected in the chest cavity after the wound is sealed. Anna had three drains in place. Also she had two sets of wires attached to her heart, the ends came out of two of the chest drain openings. These were there just in case she needed to have a pacemaker fitted in an emergency, they would just plug it in and would not have to open her up again.
On the left: Karl a worried brother looking at his sister - 16th March 2001

On the right: Anna, still sedated with her ventilator tube - 17th March 2001
On the left: Anna's chest drains have been removed - 17th March 2001

On the right: Anna is coming off her sedation, she makes the first signs of movement - 18th March 2001
On the left: Anna has now had her ventilator tube removed and is now breathing on her own with the help of a little oxygen - 18th March 2001

On the right: Annette gets to hold Anna for the first time since the operation. By this time she is only on three intravenous drugs, just after her operation she was on nine -18th March 2001.
On the left: My turn to hold her - 18th March.

On the right: Anna, looking at some of the new toy's she has received - 19th March 2001
On the left: Anna - 20th March 2001

On the right: Anna, 21st March 2001
On the left: Anna, on this day she had the pacemaker wires removed, I was there to hold her arms while the nurse just pulled them out. It's weird to think that the other ends were attached to your daughter's heart - 21st March 2001

On the right: Anna getting back to her old self - 22nd March 2001
On the left: Anna's brother, James, giving her a push in a car.

All our family would like to thank all the people who helped Anna at Great Ormond Street Hospital. The operation had gone without a hitch, and the result was better then the doctors expected. We have been told that she may need future surgery but we hope not, only time will tell.
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