Continuing Life Changing Expeience

Ok.....I'll try to finish as much of my initial diagnosis story as possible this morning.

June 21, 2001 is the day my world should have been falling apart. I know this won't make sense to some, but I had complete peace. I never felt afraid, shock yes, but never afraid. I never "thought" I was going to die. I just knew that God was going to take care of me and bring me through this. Doctors in the ER immediately put me on an IV of lasix and with that comes the lovely catheter. My lungs were so filled up with fluid that I was basically drowning. That's why I couldn't breath! I had a handful of doctors come in and listen to my heart beat and they would all say, "You have an interesting beat." Most of them were interns and I guess I was an excellent "case study" for them to learn from! In the ER they did a chest x-ray and a echocardiogram. Both of these tests showed them my heart was extremely enlarged and that my lungs were full of fluid. My heart was pumping so poorly it was causing the fluid to back up. So, from there the only place to go was to CCU. There was no way I was leaving the hospital! Once there, they started me on so many different heart medications. I kept the IV lasix and was started on Coreg, zestril, aldactone and of course the occasional potassium pill. They had to keep a very close watch on my potassium since they had all the fluid coming out due to the lasix IV. OH...I almost forget. They kept giving me nerve pills which did nothing but make me sleep! The funny thing was, I was not distressed, excited, or upset in the least bit. I was joking and cutting up with my family and the nurses but they still made me take those things! Finally, about my third day in the hospital one of the nurses said to me, "They have these nerve pills on your order but you don't look like you need it." Finally, one that didn't make me take it! Once they got a lot of fluid off of me, I started feeling much better and started getting hungry! They finally allowed me to eat something around dinner that evening. I'll never forget what they gave me to eat. That first meal was turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, bread, corn and pumpkin pie! I was having a Thanksgiving meal in June! I had so much to be thankful for too! I was alive and I was feeling better just a few short hours after being admitted. At least, good enough to have my appetite back. I couldn't run a marathon or anything. I was admitted on a Thursday and on Monday they did a cardiac catherization to check to see if they could figure out what caused this in me. I remember during the test the doctor kept saying things like, "I've never seen anything like this, and this beats all I've ever seen." I also remember him saying, "We can't do that because it just won't help her." Those were not comforting words! After the test was over, the doctor came to talk to me. The news was, there was nothing that could be done surgically to help me. My condition was not caused by a valve problem or by clogged arteries, etc. My condition was most like cause by a virus that damaged. Although, now they are not quite sure. They believe my condition could also have been hereditary. The doctor actually said my arteries were the cleanest he had ever seen. He then told me science wasn't looking good for me. I asked him if he believed in God and he said, "yes." but "science isn't looking good." Well, I said, "My God is much bigger than your science." and "that God was going to heal me." I don't think he liked my response but my faith was all I had and I had this strength that could have only come from God. That kind of strength is not naturally in a person! So, I ended up staying in the hospital until Tuesday. The day I was released, I was weighed and I had lost 30 pounds of fluid during my hospital stay. I was weak but had been up walking a few laps around the hospital hallways with Steve by my side holding me up. He was an absolute "rock" for me during this time. Once home, (which at that time was my parents house), Steve made sure I took all my meds on time and made sure I just didn't go home and become a couch potato! He walked with me a little each day. I was so weak at first and could feel my heart skipping beats, etc but I didn't focus on that. I had to focus on the days ahead and how I needed to be there for my daughter. Each day I would walk a little bit further and had to challenge myself every day to continue but it paid off in the long run. One of my biggest challenges was the strict sodium restricted diet I had to follow and will follow the rest of my life. My Mom at that time would go to the grocery for me and spend hours there trying to find something I could eat. It was amazing to find out how much sodium was in things once you really started looking at the labels. I had to keep my total sodium for the day under 2000 mg's and we found that was going to be extremely difficult. Food companies just don't realize how all this sodium is affecting people and don't seem to realize there is a whole population of people out there that have to follow a sodium restricted diet. So, in the beginning I had a lot of fruit, baked potatoes and noodles! The taste is something to get used to but if you are reading this and you need to be on this samee diet, let me tell you that in about a month your taste buds adjust and the low sodium food tastes real good. I can't stand anything that has a salty tast now! Let me encourage you to stick with it, don't give up, exercise as your doctor says and you'll be amazed at how you feel, even with a heart functioning at less than 20%! Also, for anyone reading this no one's heart functions at 100%. Normal is around 55%. My heart function went from 5% while in the hospital to around 15% on first echo after I was released. I was thankful for that improvement! I know prayer got me to where it did. I never felt sorry for myself and never questioned God why this happened to me. I believe everything happens for a reason and that God has a plan. This may not have been the plan I would have chosen for myself, but I have trust that God knows what he is doing. I always thought it would be silly for me to feel sorry for myself and ask "why me?" I remember telling my Dad this one day and I said Dad, the way I look at it is, "why not me?" I'm no different than anyone else and others have suffered far worse or the same so why should I be spared? I believe attitude is half the battle so being mad at God or questioning things would only serve to drag me down and hinder any progress I needed to make. I had and still have an excellent support system in my family. That is so important. I know it may be hard at times but I would say to others keep a postive attitude and do what the doctor says! You'll be amazed at how much better you will feel!

To be continued.......