Stable again

Since my last post, things have smoothed out a bit.  I have had a couple of small incidents but nothing like the June 12 incident.

Now I am back trying to pretend this did not happen, because I still have to work for a living like everyone else.

I am grateful to still be here, though, and I do not take waking up every day for granted.

Hospital Visit Saturday

My friends and family have heard me saying recently that I was trying to go a year without a hospital visit as it has been since 2002 when I have gone for 12 months without a visit.

I had a pretty good month in May and I was hopeful, but that hope went away on Saturday when my wife had to bring me to the emergency room because I could not catch my breath.

I had been getting shakier and shakier over the past two days for unknown reasons, and on Saturday, right after a nice lunch with my son and his wife I got into the car, and I started hyper-ventilating and just could not get my breath.

So we rushed to the emergency room and then put me on oxygen right away and started checking me out. They checked out my heart first and that checked out okay, they said, so they started doing all sorts of tests.

I was having heart attack symptoms with chest pains, and my left arm was going numb, my kidneys were not doing well and my BP was dangerously low.

Long story short, they could not find the cause, and after stabilizing me and running tests for 7 hours, they let me go home. We were impressed with the doctor, he showed us the tests and discussed the issues each step of the way.

Then the next day, the doctor actually called to see how I was doing. That has never happened before. I feel grateful that he was my attending doctor.

One last thing, this had a profound effect on my wife. She was fiercely attentive with me all weekend and would not let me do chores, etc. This seems to have had a big effect on our philosophical approach to life.

We have had a lot of side issues lately, but this was a wakeup call for us to appreciate our time together as we never know how much time we will have together. We talked about it several times.

On everyday Suffering

If you ask most people with Heart Failure, they will downplay the daily suffering they are going through. I know I for one am not articulate enough to describe just how awful living with Heart Failure can be.

To be sure, some people are able to get somewhat better if they stick to their drugs and do what their heart failure specialist says to do.

Unfortunately, it seems that too many people I correspond with don't have a good doctor, and they are groping in the dark.

It breaks my heart to hear their stories, but also reassures me that I am not alone, and I guess most of us on the lists feel that way and are grateful for the community.

I know I am.

National Heart Failure Awareness Week February 14-20, 2010

This week is Heart Failure awareness week. You can read the official notice here. Thanks to the Heart Failure Society of America for this. (HFSA)

According to the American Heart Association, over 5 million people in the US alone have Heart Failure. It is one of the most rapidly growing diagnosis in the world.

Many developed heart failure because of a cardiac event such as a myocardial infarction (heart attack), but some us contracted it for no know reason.

Doctors speculate this latter type was caused by a viral or other type of infection.

In my case they call it nonischemic cardiomyopathy. I also have restrictive cardiomyopathy (stiff heart), atrial fibrillation, pulmonary hypertension, and complete heart block.

I rely on my bi-ventricular pacemaker to any heart beat at all.

I also take Coreg, Digoxin, Lisinopril, and Ranexa. Although the Ranexa is indicated for Angina, I take it for my restrictive cardiomyopathy.

I am grateful for technology.

Atrial Fibrillation

I went to my electrophysiologist for a routine check on my pacemaker, and they told me that I had been in atrial fibrillation 30% of the time.

I am also showing signs of pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular enlargement, and that is all new.

They seemed quite concerned, but I like this doctor because he doesn't just "watch it for now".

The doubled my dosage of Lisinopril, and programmed my pacemaker to suppress the Afib. They told me to come back in a month.

The good news is those steps seemed to work and I was down to 1% Afib, so we dodged another surgery for now.

I was grateful.

Back Online

Sorry I have been absent for the last 7 months. Frankly, the hip replacement was way harder than I was led to believe by the doctors, nurses, and frankly everyone.

The procedure was a snap. The recovery was way beyond expectations. I don't know, maybe it was because I have heart failure. Maybe it was because I have been so through much stuff since February of 2003.

I am really not sure. Maybe I have become a wimp. A weak, worn out, wimp.

I do know that the recovery took away my dignity, and that after 7 months, I still feel the artificial hip every day. The docs told me it would take six months and then come back and do the other.

Since I have this disease, I plan to give it twelve months and see how it is doing then.