July 16, 1007
I was not going to write again today, but I looked at my calendar, and today is the third year to the day when I went into the hospital dying of heart failure. It is ironic that I decided to start this blog today, and not on purpose.
When I was originally diagnosed in July of 2004, my Ejection Fraction was around 10% (normal is 60%), my BNP was over 2000 (normal is less than 100), my lungs were filling with fluid, my kidneys were failing, and I could not breathe without oxygen. They put me through the tests to qualify me for a heart transplant as they believed I would die without one.
I could not walk across a room without help.
I was 50 years old at the time with low cholesterol, low BP, and very fit just a few weeks before, able to go 45 minutes on an elliptical machine on high. I was not overweight but sort of on the thin side and I did not smoke.
They call my disease nonischemic cardiomyopathy. This means there is no apparent cause. They say they think a virus attached my heart. But they don't really know.
They put me on Coreg, Digoxin, Lasix, Spironolact, and Lisinopril. I also had to change doctors to find a heart failure specialist. Now I have two cardiologists, one for Heart Failure and one for my bi-ventricular pacemaker / defibrillator.
To make a long story short, three years later, some days I can function okay, and can tolerate working. I have some days where I actually feel pretty good.
There is new technology coming to help us, like the stem cell research being done in trials to help repair the heart muscle. Technology is our friend.
I plan to try to publish some others stories here eventually. Perhaps anonymously. They deserve their privacy, but I don't want this to be all about me, although some of that can’t be avoided. I do want it to be representative of all those who suffer with CHF.
My best to you and yours,
David
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