My Divination Card, Pride Before The Fall

Now that it's up in a news post, I figured I should write up about my experience being a Highgate supporter, and the theme behind my card.

The actual experience was awesome. I filled out the form with what I was going for, picked the item, and got several prompt replies, leading up to the flavor text being finalized and sent off to have the art done. I felt like I was treated well and there was no urgency or rush to just knock the card out and move on to the next one.


As for why this particular unique and theme? Well, that's a longer story.


Last summer I discovered that I have an enlarged aortic root, along with having Marfan Syndrome. I don't show the typical signs of someone with Marfan Syndrome, besides being tall and near sighted, so I slipped past being diagnosed with it until I went and saw a cardiologist for an unrelated issue. My aortic root was extremely dilated, at a size of 5.2 cm. Due to this and having Marfan Syndrome, I had to undergo heart surgery to avoid having an aortic dissection, or god forbid, an aortic burst.

I ended up having a new procedure done in the U.K. called PEARS, which stands for Personalized External Aortic Root Support. Instead of removing my aortic root and replacing it with an artificial one, they took measurements via a CT scan and 3D printed a mesh to fit around it instead, to support it and keep it from growing any larger.

Needless to say, I was terrified of this, and the months leading up to the surgery are some of the hardest in my life. I found all this out when I had just graduated from university and was about to start working full time, and this led to it being extremely difficult to focus on work; being a programmer, my output at work slowed down quite a bit.

I had my surgery on April 20th, 2015. I woke up to the troubling news that during my surgery, my ascending aorta had dissected and needed to be replaced; they still managed to fit the mesh over my aortic root, so I still get to have my original root in place. I was pretty zonked on what would be considered a "heroic dose" of morphine and anesthetics, so the next few hours were a blur. The next day, during the afternoon, I started feeling intense pain in my legs. It turns out that after being replaced, my aorta continued to dissect all the way down to where your aorta splits off to send blood flow to your legs.

I came fairly close to needing more high risk surgery, but thankfully my blood flow improved enough overnight to avoid needing that. My recovery has been long and hard, much harder than it would be if I had just had the surgery with no complications; my chest has fully healed and no longer hurts, and has a pretty wicked scar. I can do almost everything I did before on a day to day basis, besides a full grocery trip; I can walk maybe a quarter mile before I need to sit down again, and my legs start to feel the burn after only 50-100 steps. I've only got 60% of my original blood flow going to my legs, and it definitely shows.

I truly have a corrupted heart, just like Kaom, and what better way to commemorate such a terrifying life event than to get to add my own little bit to my favorite game?

Touching story. Best of luck with recovery.

Amazing story.Courage and have a speedy recovery!

Sounds great, man, best of luck to you in the future!
About the theme - your heart may be broken in a way, but it definitely doesn't seem "corrupted". :)

Awesome story and good luck with your recovery. Though I must say that Kaom's heart was "corrupted" in a very different way than yours.

Very nice card, I wish you a speedy recovery!

When all is said and done, your inner heart is far stronger than your physical one. You have strong heart dude.

May the Lord bless and guide you throughout your life.
Best of luck with your future ventures and work.

If only GGG would implement these "behind the scenes" stories into game somehow. Something like a small button for people who really care about meanings of things.

Thanks for sharing your amazing story, I will remember it when I see this card in the game. I also wish you all the best with your recovery!