Member Profiles
Debbie 2
I have already given the story of my 15 year old that was born with a heart condition. Now it my turn. I was remarried in July of 1996. In May of 1997 I found out that at 39 years old and already a mother of a 17yr old and a 10 year old I was pregnant with my third child. I was not ready for this at my age but I worked out 4 times a week and was in pretty good health. My baby was due January 18th and every thing was going fine. Until the first week of December when I thought I had caught my husband's cold. I kept coughing and had real bad pressure in my sinus'. After a week the cough was still bad and I had hardly slept more than 2 hours per night. They changed my medicine. Still no change.
On December 11, 1997 I was leaving work and could not catch my breath when I got in the car. My friend drove me home and I was fine. Two days later I could hardly move around and while talking to my husband I lost my breath and could not breathe again. We rushed to emergency and was told I had bronchitis and to see my ob-gyn first thing Monday morning. I was getting tired from not getting any sleep and when we got to my doctor he suggested that I go next door and check in the er. So that we did. I could hardly breathe by then . I was admitted and a lung specialist came to see me. He insisted that I had just a bad sinus infection and even when I almost died because I could not breath right in front of him he still thought it was sinus.
I was admitted on Monday and on Saturday his partner came to see me and he ordered me to have an echo. I had an ultrasound to make sure the baby was ok and at 8 months they told me he was at least 8lbs. On Monday I had a cardiologist in my room telling me that I had a heart condition. Cardiomyopathy he said. He put me on lasix right away because I was so swollen with water. I lost 18 lbs in two days. On Xmas Eve morning my cardiologist and ob-gyn both came in and by then I had lost almost 20 lbs and was feeling much, much better. They had decided that I had to have the baby before I could go home and asked if I would be able to lay down without coughing. I thought that I could and they asked if I would like to have the baby that day, the next day or the weekend. I didn't think that I could wait another minute so I opted for a Xmas Eve baby. I hurriedly called my family and told them to get to the hospital because we were going to have a baby that day. I was almost 4 weeks from my due date and was a bit concerned about him but they said he would be alright.
To this day I do not know how I was able to quit coughing long enough to have the baby. He was born at 3:37pm and I didn't get to recovery until about 5PM. I also had my tubes tied at the same time because they suggested with my condition that I do not get pregnant again. I coughed until I layed down and the minute I got into recovery I started coughing again. I was home in four days and thus began my visits to the cardiologiest. I was lucky though. I was one of the lucky ones whose heart went back to normal but because my triglycerides run high they watch me closely. I had my check up in March of this year and everything seemed to be ok. In April I noticed that walking up the stairs at work and little things tired my out. At my friends in Ohio I was unable to walk up their hill to their house without my heart wanting to pop out of my chest. I had an echo coming up so I figured that I could find out what was wrong.
I was not ready for what was found. My heart was very enlarged and they fit me in to see my doctor the next Monday. When I saw him there was a definite problem and I was schedule the next Monday for an angiogram. It went quite well and I was out in no time. My arteries looked great he said. My left ventricle was smaller due to the fact that I now had a Left Bundle Branch Block I had acquired this because of the cardiomyopathy. They switched my medications and I feel much better. I have also seen an electrical doctor as I call him and am told that I will have to have this new device that the FDA has just approved. It is a pacemaker type device only with three wires instead of the usual two.
As long as I am doing ok on the medications that I am on we are going to hold off until I really need it put in. I am only 43 at this time and am told that this is young to have something like this. I have been doing a lot of research on cardiomyopathy and Bundle Branch Blocks. I am scared at times mostly because I need to lose weight and have a very hard time doing so. I try to eat right but nothing works. I take my meds when I am supposed to and there are times though that I feel very tired. I cannot do too much without tiring easily. I used to be able to walk briskly and now I have to try and keep up with my husband who walks slow. Carrying even one bag can tire me out while shopping. But still I feel well enough not to have the device and hope that I can put it off as long as possible. There are times that I think about that day back in 1997 when I thought I was going to die. I thank God that they were able to find out was wrong with me and that I was one of the lucky ones who cardiomyopathy did not kill.
Now I have this new problem but I am going to learn to live with it. I am not going to let it control me. I am going to not roll over and play dead because I have a heart problem. I would miss out on too much of my 4year olds life. I feel lucky to have the doctors that I do. Between my heart condition and my son's I should be able to become a cardiologist myself. HA.HA. My thoughts then are this. If you have a heart condition learn to live with it. Don't let it control you. Life is too short sometimes as it is.
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