Hope for the Holidays: Celebrating Life After Four Open-heart Surgeries

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Life is still good. People are inherently

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amazing and just because something happens to

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you doesn't mean that you were wronged. This the hand that you have been

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dealt. Play it because this is your journey in life and there are

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going to be some amazing parts of it. Enjoy it.

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Welcome to Open Heart Surgery with Boots and our

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special holiday series, Hope for the

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Holidays. Ta da. I'm Boots Knighton, and

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this season we're revisiting some of our most inspiring

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stories. Guests who faced daunting heart

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surgeries and have beaten the odds and are

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now thriving reminders of resilience and

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hope. This series is our way of celebrating

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not only their strength, but also showcasing

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that hope is possible for all of us in times

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of struggle. If you love the podcast,

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please consider joining our Patreon community. You can find

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us at patreon.com

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openheartsurgerywithboots that will help keep this

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podcast on the air and these stories coming. Of

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course I want to hear from you. Send me your feedback, your

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concerns, your best recipes for

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holiday cookies, whatever feels good to you. I want to hear from

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you. You can send me an email

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bootsheartchamber podcast.com

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without further ado, I'm so excited to bring you today's

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guest and I can't wait to hear from you. Welcome back

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to another episode of Open Heart Surgery with Boots. I

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am so thrilled to be doing this series of Hope

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for the Holidays where I am bringing back

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guests that have been on the podcast kind of really from the

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beginning. I'm going way back into

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2023. Of course, that's not very long ago, but it

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feels like it when I put out an episode every single week.

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And this week I wanted to bring back Bill Wingate

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from Birmingham, Alabama. And Bill, thank you so

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much for coming back. You have just become such a great heart

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buddy of mine. And I want to also call

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out Bill and thank Bill publicly for financially supporting

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this podcast, for sending me words of

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encouragement, and for just meeting me with grace as I fumble

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through this learning curve that is hosting a podcast.

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And so one of the reasons why I keep showing up every

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week are for people like Bill. And I think

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that once you hear his quick update on how he's

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doing, you will feel the same. So, Bill, welcome

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back, my friend. Well, Boots, thank you for the opportunity yet again

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to join you and talk with you and as well

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as people who listen to this who are also heart patients, because

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there are an awful lot of us around and it's not something that you

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usually don't find them in your everyday life. So it's great for you. You've

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built this community to where it is now. Thank you. Thank you. So

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give us the 50,000 foot view of. And I should

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say before you do that, listeners, I am going to have his original

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episode in the show notes. And holy cow, is it

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worth listening to. He did such an incredible job when

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we recorded his episode of telling his story. So do consider

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going back and listening to that. But Bill, give us again like

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the Cliff Notes of the last 27 years. Well,

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the past 27 years I have been a substantial

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heart patient. I was in College in 1997 and learned

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that I had aortic stenosis and regurgitation, which several

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months after I learned this information led me to my

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first of four, as of today, open heart surgeries.

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And so in these past 27 years, I've had a total load, as I

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said, four opens. I've had seven heart valves replaced,

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I've had numerous heart caps, I've had all kinds

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of crazy test and procedures done. I've had from blood

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issues to unusual infections from

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the dental office. So it has been a long

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run of highs and lows. And I feel

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like at this point I've gotten to be a really good patient. And

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I had a heart surgeon look at me after my last surgery saying, you've got

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to find a new hobby. Open heart surgery is not the best one for you.

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So hopefully we're on a run that I don't have to do it again. So

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is the hope and the prayer. So that's what we are hoping for.

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And so that's, that's my story in a nutshell. And seven valves,

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four opens, and a lot of other junk to go along the way. Yeah, yeah,

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junk is right. But here you are and you're doing great. Like

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looking at you through the screen, you would never know that you

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have been on the adventure that you've been on. So

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where you're at now, where do you stand

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emotionally, spiritually, mentally?

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That's a, that's a great question because I had my last surgery in

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January of 2023 and that one

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did a lot more damage to me

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mentally or and emotionally than I would even say physically.

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The, the physical recovery was, I'll describe it as typical to the rest of

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mine. Um, it wasn't bad. It was a couple months and you

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felt pretty good. Emotionally, I was a mess. It took a

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while. And just the gravity of four major surgeries

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and all the anesthesia and all the weird

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one offs that have really. That I've survived hit me

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hard and I started a writing project during this

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time trying to figure out how to tell my story. And it's evolved over the

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past year and a half. But it all comes down to where all

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my current work is. And it's all about telling stories of

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hope, love and gratitude in everything that we do. And with those

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three values, you can get through almost anything and it changes your

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perspective on everything that you do. And so that has really

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helped me get through the emotional hurdles of the past

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20 plus years, 27 years now. But it's, it's a work in progress

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every day and it's a great opportunity that I have and I want to be

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sure to share, share it as I go along. And we'll have that in the

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show notes too. And what has

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been the common thread through the 27

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years that has been maybe the most

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supportive or most helpful for you? For me, it

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is, it is having hope and everything all

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constantly around me and having hope for what is to come next because there

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have been times where it couldn't have gotten any worse. And then being

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grateful for everything that is around you and everything that

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you get to experience. And yes, I've had

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heart surgery. I've had it more than once. But that's

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okay. The sun will come up tomorrow. I have, I have all

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the hope in the world that the sun will come up tomorrow. Tomorrow will be

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a be a better day. And some days they're

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not, but most days they are. And that is what matters.

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The days that you don't have hope or the darker days,

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what gets you. Through the day on those days, I've just got to

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cut myself a little bit more slack and I've got to be a little more

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patient with myself. And after all that I've, I've been

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through so far, I do have days that are like I physically

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don't feel as good as I did the day before. And generally it's something

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that I've done. I've burned the candle at both ends. I've gotten a pearly state

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up late, done something I shouldn't have done, or I don't have the physical stamina

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that I, a typical 48 year old would have. But then again, I am almost

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50, so we can debate that in multiple different ways. But

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I've got to be nicer to myself. And I've got to say, okay,

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today's not going to be the day that I'm going to get 25 things on

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my to do list done. I'm going to be happy with 10. And so I've

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got to, I've just got to reframe the day and reframe the expectations. And

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I'm very grateful that my daughter and my wife, they understand that.

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Yeah. And so some days, some days are better than others and I'm. But

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I'm very thankful these days that there are

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much, much more good days than there are not so good

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days. And that that feeling,

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an act of hope is everything, isn't it? An act of

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hope is everything. And that has really

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become apparent to me over the past couple of weeks because

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at the end of September I had my routine follow up with my surgeon, which

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I had been doing over the past 10 years. We had been doing a,

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a check in or a follow up scan every three, four

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or six months. And so for the first time in 10 years, I get to

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go an entire year between CT scans and

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visiting with my surgeon, which is, it's bittersweet. I mean, it's a

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great thing that I can live beyond the three month increment and enjoy

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life and what's going to unfold before us. But these are friends that we've

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made. These are parts of our family that I don't, that I've got to go

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find other ways to meet up with them and catch up with them. But I

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will take it. It's a win. And I'm looking forward to not walking

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into that clinic nearly as frequent because I have a little bit of

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PTSD every time I walk, every time I walk in the doors. Am I

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walking out of this today as well? Right. Because sometimes you didn't get to walk

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out. Some days I didn't get to. They would admit me. Yes.

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Or I get to walk out and make my own decisions about what, what the

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rest of the week at week holds. But, but I am very grateful for

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the experiences I've had. I have great hope and

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the research that is going on in this field. And in my 27

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years, what I think is really neat and this is my

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crazy view of reality, how the field of

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cardiac thoracic medicine has changed in the 27

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years. How the types of anesthesia they use

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is so much better and easier on the body for me at least than it

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was 27 years ago. Little things like that that I'm

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very grateful for and I'm hoping in another 27 years that it's

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even surpassed everything we could imagine. Yeah. My hope is

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that they're doing all valve replacements through like the femoral

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artery or something instead of opening a. I'm all for it. Wouldn't that be.

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That's a walk. That's a walk in the park to have that done. I've. I've

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had one of those. Yeah, that's easy. What a

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perspective you have that really, I don't know many other heart patients

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have, for better or for worse. And in closing,

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going back 27 years, what would you

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tell yourself? Like, if you could go back as you're starting

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this journey telling your younger self, hey, you're about to

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go through 27 years of really hard

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stuff, right? What do you want that younger part of you to

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know? Well, I mean, life is still good. People

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are inherently amazing. And just

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because something happens to you doesn't mean that you were wronged. You've just

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been this the hand that you have been dealt. Play it. Because this is your

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journey in life and there are going to be some amazing parts of

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it. Enjoy it. This is going to be a time. There's going to be a

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little bit of suffering, there's going to be some trials, but there's going to be

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some tribulations as well. So enjoy it. And what

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can you take from your experiences to

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encourage teachers and enhance

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the next generation? And this is why I invited you back on for the

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series. You always have the most amazing wisdom and

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perspective to share with others. And I, for one, benefit

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greatly. So thank you, Bill, Wendy, and

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can you just verbalize to us how listeners can find you should they want to

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reach out? Well, Boots, before I do that, I thank you

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for going on this journey and connecting heart

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patients together because I have met several people that have been on the

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podcast and told their story and it's fun to connect with other people who

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have similar experiences, especially that are

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younger than the typical open heart patient.

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And so that has been a met, has been a lot of fun to meet.

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But over the past year and a half, I've started my own writing project. It

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is the start of what I'm hoping is a manuscript, a book. We're

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still working through that, but you can find

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me@williamwingate.com just like it sounds.

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And it is, it is different. Post in a newsletter that is focusing

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on hope, love and gratitude in everything that we do and everything that

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we experience. Your future is bright. May you stay out of the

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cath lab. Yes, please. I hope, I hope. Well, thank

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you Bill and thank you listeners. And please

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do consider becoming part of our Patreon

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community. You can find the link in the show notes. This

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podcast is only elevated by those

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who support it and it definitely gives me a little wind in my

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sails when I hear from listeners, so you can also send me an email

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bootsheartchamber podcast.com

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this podcast was formerly named the Heart Chamber. And do be

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be sure to come back next week for another installment of

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Hope for the Holidays. I love you, you matter and your

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heart is your best friend.