Davide, 40, a financial advisor and teacher from Sardinia, Italy has been challenged with a heart condition since his teenage years. Here, he explains how using PDF Expert has helped empower his health journey, over the course of several years and multiple operations.
When I was 19, I collapsed and ended up in hospital. It turned out I was battling something called ventricular tachycardia. This is as dangerous as a heart attack. It’s what happens to some sports players on the field, and sadly most of the time, the outcomes are fatal.
It means I have an abnormal heart rhythm which, if left untreated, can be dangerous, possibly leading to loss of life if not treated immediately. To complicate matters, I partially lost my hearing in my left ear, and my parents separated. As you can imagine, these were difficult times.
In the years that followed, I had several heart operations. They were terrifying at times. For some operations - despite being given pain medication - I had to stay conscious, and I could hear the doctors talking among themselves, their voices worried or confused.
Battling for survival
Some of these procedures were six hours long, and I had lots of wires running in and out of my body. The medics worked in shifts, but I couldn’t go anywhere, I had to lie there listening to them work and battle for motivation and strength.
I didn’t want to give up, I clenched my fists and tried to stop the tears from falling. I wasn’t ready to give up on life, I was young, and there was so much I still wanted to experience. I wanted to create a legacy and leave the world a better place than when I found it.
Since then, I’ve been fitted with a small device called an ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) which creates electrical pulses to regulate my heartbeat.
These pulses are also called shocks because they are terrible shocks when they hit you. They could come in the most unexpected moments. I would not wish this experience on anybody, at the time, it left me with nightmares, sleepless nights, and high anxiety – all symptoms of PTSD.
My health may not be perfect, but, generally speaking, it’s great. I work out twice a day and live a busy, productive life. I appreciate that my heart is doing the best it can to keep me alive and well, every single day.
PDF Expert for keeping medical records
PDF Expert has been an essential part of my health journey. It’s been fast and reliable when needed. With all the medical procedures I had over the years, I ended up with hundreds of pages of medical notes. So, from the early days of my operations, I scanned all the reports and saved them as PDF files on my iPad and Mac.
I was then able to organize these notes into a logical sequence and easily find exactly what I needed on my iPad as I was whisked between cardiologists and doctors, who are obviously impressed that I keep my own medical library!
To this day, I have professional-looking folders packed with MRI scans, X-Rays, high-definition photos, EKGs, and echocardiograms.
Can you imagine if a doctor asked me about a particular operation or intervention and I didn’t have my medical records with me? A new appointment would be required, often involving travel by plane and a hunt for the necessary paperwork.
With PDF Expert, I can keep track of all my medical notes and consultants can simply access the information they need straight away.
PDF Expert has evolved a lot over the years, and, as of today, it is still my to-go app for editing and taking notes - from work tasks to medical processes.
These days, I lecture university and high school students, and I recommend the app to them, too, because it’s just so convenient.
Favorite product features
My favorite features are the text editing tools, the ability to swipe between pages (especially in large documents) on my iPad, and the screenshot and ‘select all’ features. Generally speaking, it’s such a quick and easy editing tool to use.
Health-wise, every day is a new day, and it can bring fresh challenges.
I still have to monitor my heart and stay connected to various doctors. Of course, it’s very tiring at times, but as the saying goes, ‘life is not waiting for the storm to pass, it’s learning to dance in the rain’.
Every time that we face a difficult challenge, we can learn from it, and we have an opportunity to share our experience with others in similar circumstances, thus helping them and leaving a bit of our spirit behind.
The Readdle Team 
