wearing red and heart failure

Here is my helper.  He blogs for me when I am busy. :)

February is the month to bring awareness to our heart health.

This is a perfect month for this as we are already buying chocolates and cards to express the love spilling over from our hearts.

Just like type 1 diabetes, I also knew nothing about cardiomyopathy.

my little guy is now 16 months old and the end of my pregnancy led to me learning all about heart failure:

When I showed my obgyn, my swelled ankles, he said that it was hot that day and typical in pregnancy.  I had never had swelling in pregnancy before, though.

When I said that I couldn't breathe or lie down after I had delivered my baby, the doctor thought that I was suffering from anxiety or needed more sleep.  They even ordered a walker for me to just get out of bed!

x-rays finally revealed fluid in my lungs.  pneumonia was diagnosed, yet that didn't feel right to me.

The doctor decided to order an echocardiogram, just in case.  heart trouble was unlikely and rare for someone like me.  I was only 41 and healthy.  no high blood pressure or health problems prior to this.

yet, my echocardiogram proved invaluable.  my heart was too large and leaking.  I always hear the narrative from The Grinch who Stole Christmas where it was a good thing that day that the Grinch's heart grew three times its size.  For the Grinch it was a good thing.

But in a hospital, in real life, this was very bad.

I was in heart failure.  diagnosed with cardiomyopathy.  then they sent me home a few days later, thinking I would be okay.  Because I was naturally thin, my extra 30 pounds of fluid looked normal to the doctor.

I replay that night at home, in my mind over and over.  I am so lucky I survived that night.  I  couldn't breathe or even sit comfortably let alone lie down.

I had my husband take me back to the hospital, the next day where from the emergency room, I was admitted to the cardiac floor.  A heart monitor was clipped on me and I was now an official heart patient.  Two weeks later, I went home after an angiogram, lots of medication and thirty pounds lighter.

I survived.  Just as my children with type 1 diabetes survive.  We are survivors.

Take a moment to educate others on what life really is for those of us living with diseases.

Be thankful for those that don't have to.

just be thankful.

and eat some chocolate.  

I'm back blogging!

It's been awhile and a lot has happened since I last blogged.  I last announced that I was pregnant.  This was my sixth child.  My fifth pregnancy.  My third pregnancy was twins.  This pregnancy took a turn for the worst.  I was sick at the beginning as I always am, but by my 33rd week, I began to feel sick and slow down.  I had hoped to have a vbac delivery, a non cesarian delivery.  I found a hospital that would support this decision.  The doctor required a stress test to begin at 32 weeks.  This is probably what saved my life.  

They discovered that my blood pressure was too high.  I had never had high blood pressure.  I noticed that my ankled were swelling.  My ankles had never swelled before.  My doctor decided that it was pre eclampsia.  I needed to take it easy and be monitored twice a week.  But I had a headache and that worried the doctor.  They asked me to come in again and be checked.  When I was there my blood pressure was too high.  They found ketones in my urine.  This is a diabetes term that we watch for with our children.  But this meant something was wrong and my kidneys were having trouble.  I was taken by wheel chair to the hospital from the doctor's office.

They began to discuss immediate c section that night, but I began to respond to fluids and rest.  They waited a few days and actually suggested that I could go back home.  I refused.  A c section was performed 4 weeks prior to my due date.  I had to be put on magnesium for 24 hours during and after to prevent seizure.  I was heavily medicated and sick.  The baby was born.  He was good weight and only suffered from jaundice, some low blood sugar and later a heart murmur was discovered that has since been resolved.  I, however, got worse instead of better.

They thought the birth would alleviate my symptoms.  However, I couldn't breathe.  The doctor prescribed anti anxiety medicine.  Then they decided it was pneumonia.  They wanted me to take a shower and take care of my baby.  I couldn't.  I couldn't get out of bed.  I couldn't lay down.  I couldn't breathe.  A doctor finally agreed to look at my heart.  And there it was.

My heart was too large.  It was leaking.  It was beating erratically.  I was in heart failure.

They started medicines and decided I could go home in a few days.  I went home.  and barely made it through the night.  My ankle was very swollen again and I couldn't breathe.  I found the doctor's phone number after sitting up all night and they advised me to come back to the hospital.  There I was admitted to the cardiac floor and my baby was left at home with my mom.

For two weeks, I was given medicine, stopped breastfeeding, given lots of lasix to drain fluid and experienced an angiogram.  I was finally deemed okay to go back home.

That was a year ago.  I am still on medicines but doing better and my baby just turned one and is doing well.

so far now, we are adding cardiomyopathy to the list of the medical knowledge I now carry in my unofficial proverbial medical bag.