Topic: I'm still alive!

[theANdROId]

For any who recall, some time ago I mentioned being diagnosed with a heart condition.  My absence since then has been primarily because of that.  I kept feeling worse and worse while my cardiologist kept saying, "You're fine, you're fine!  This is normal!  I'll see you in a month!"  Well, I finally decided to be rude and basically told him one day, "I'm coming in today, you WILL make room for me."  Surprisingly, it worked!  My wife and I talked with him about all my symptoms at that point and he realized I wasn't fine.  He did another echocardiogram to find that my EF (ejection fraction) was only 10%.  Basically, my heart was only pumping 10% of the blood it was supposed to.
He didn't rush me to the hospital that day, but did set me up an appointment with one of Piedmont Hospital's heart failure specialists ASAP.  At that appointment, the doctor literally said that everything the cardiologist had been saying and doing for me was wrong.  I was not dehydrated but fluid overloaded, I didn't need the heart meds I'd been on because they were actually making things worse based on various symptoms...etc.  They admitted me to the hospital and put me on some diuretics to get the excess fluid off me.
Unfortunately it was too late for that.  Because I'd been retaining fluid in my gut, I'd been flooding my kidneys and liver, and they basically shut down.  I was quickly admitted into ICU and placed on lots of different meds and mechanics for observation.  I don't remember much of this, but my wife said she was terrified for a while that this was the end of me.

Thankfully, I made a sudden turn for the better, and my kidneys and liver began functioning again.  I spent a while longer in the ICU and the hospital, slowly but surely making improvements, and am finally back home again!  I'm still on a home IV for one medication that is only available as an IV, and I have an external defibrillator vest monitoring my heart.  I'm on several pill meds for my heart, and there are a few others they want to slowly add as they hopefully wean me off the IV med.  That will just take time.  I'll be checking in at least once a week with the heart failure doctors at Piedmont where they'll be monitoring how I do and deciding what next steps to take based on what they see.  If they see improvement, we add pill meds and remove the IV, and I may or may not need an internal defibrillator implanted.  If they don't see enough improvement, they'll be encouraging a heart transplant.  I still have a looooong way to go, so your thoughts/prayers are still appreciated...we really don't wanna go the transplant route.


And you may remember that this all is amidst my wife bearing our first child.  Things are still going well in that part of our lives, and we recently found out we're having a little boy!  All the more reason I need to get better...if he's anything like I was we'll be chasing him all over! ;-P

[Gunlord]

*hugs* Sounds like a close call!!

[X]

Good god. Sounds like an nightmare I'd rather not experience  Glad to hear you're doing better though. And hopefully your little boy's going to have his Daddy around for many a year to come. The one thing I absolutely hate about being human is that we don't get spare parts to replace the ones that are failing on us. Hopefully cloning tech will increase thus allowing for cloned, healthy organs in the near future. A heart transplant (while good) can be very risky. Especially if the body rejects the heart. And to top it all off you'd have to take anti-rejection meds which drastically decreases your immune system, making you more vulnerable to disease. Cross your fingers for this not to happen. I wish you the best of luck theANdROId.

[Shiroi Koumori]

That was scary!
I'm glad you are getting better now and I hope you'll recover soon.

[uzo]

Bro fist to you my friend. We're heart problem buddies.

I know how you're feeling. Whatever happens stay strong and show the grim reaper you mean business. The strongest medicine is the will to live.

[darkmanx_429]

Damn dude, glad to hear you are doing better.

[Shiroi Koumori]

We're heart problem buddies.

That makes 3 of us.
I just had a 2nd incident of heart palpitations in a week.
stupid heart electric signals, why can't you guys just stay in line... 

I hope the rest of you guys don't encounter these heart related problems.

[uzo]

The Broken Heart Trinity?

[X]

Not quite. Aside from cancer my family also suffers from Heart disease. I haven't experienced any problems yet but that not to say I won't someday. I'll just need to watch how much sodium I take in as that's usually the trigger for it. I'm 34 now so I'm well into the danger zone.

[theANdROId]

Definitely hoping to avoid the transplant idea for the complications mentioned.  So far though (since being released from the hospital about 2 weeks ago) they're really happy with how I'm doing.  Don't have any sort of "test results" yet to show I've improved, but based on observations at checkups and how I feel and act in general, I'm improving pretty well.  I intend to fight for all I'm worth to be here much longer...for this kid and hopefully others too!

I'm having to keep my sodium to 2000mg a day (which is like a teaspoon or something).  I used to kinda watch nutrition labels, but now that I'm specifically looking at sodium content, it's almost gross how much of the stuff is in...well, everything!  I won't be doing much fast food anymore, which is no biggie since I really only ate it when we traveled anyway...now I'll pack stuff.  What I really hate to lose is cheese! :'-(  When my extended family gets together for holidays, many of us bring chunks of our favorite cheeses and crackers just to munch on...and I looooooved me some queso!!  Gonna have to really watch those things now.

Food is a little bland too, but I know a (very) few ways to compensate for that with other salt free seasonings.  I just have to learn more ways now!

Thanks for the support everyone!  It does a lot for me personally to know there are tons of people who've got my back or are there, even if I've never actually met them!  Thanks!

(On a side note...seeing how a few of us have heart problems here...maybe we should get something like "Dracula's Heart" as a reward for our continued survival!) ;-)  X-D

[darkmanx_429]

Definitely hoping to avoid the transplant idea for the complications mentioned.  So far though (since being released from the hospital about 2 weeks ago) they're really happy with how I'm doing.  Don't have any sort of "test results" yet to show I've improved, but based on observations at checkups and how I feel and act in general, I'm improving pretty well.  I intend to fight for all I'm worth to be here much longer...for this kid and hopefully others too!

I'm having to keep my sodium to 2000mg a day (which is like a teaspoon or something).  I used to kinda watch nutrition labels, but now that I'm specifically looking at sodium content, it's almost gross how much of the stuff is in...well, everything!  I won't be doing much fast food anymore, which is no biggie since I really only ate it when we traveled anyway...now I'll pack stuff.  What I really hate to lose is cheese! :'-(  When my extended family gets together for holidays, many of us bring chunks of our favorite cheeses and crackers just to munch on...and I looooooved me some queso!!  Gonna have to really watch those things now.

Food is a little bland too, but I know a (very) few ways to compensate for that with other salt free seasonings.  I just have to learn more ways now!

Thanks for the support everyone!  It does a lot for me personally to know there are tons of people who've got my back or are there, even if I've never actually met them!  Thanks!

(On a side note...seeing how a few of us have heart problems here...maybe we should get something like "Dracula's Heart" as a reward for our continued survival!) ;-)  X-D

Heart of Vlad?  I like that idea! Come on Jorge!

[Dracula9]

Bro fist to you my friend. We're heart problem buddies.

Possibly four of us...does angina count?

I'm glad to hear you're hanging in there, Android. Running the risk of pessimistic optimism, if you can pull through liver and kidney failure, I think you're looking good for whatever may come.

[Mooning Freddy]

Your doctor sounds like a complete idiot who should have his certificate taken, and I suppose you got very lucky there.

I caught some virus yesterday that effects the digestive system and spent most of the morning in the bathroom. The most annoying part is that I don't even know how I caught it. It sucks. One day I'm perfectly healthy, the next I'm having awful stomach aches, gas and diarrhea. Sigh. Be strong, man.

[Shiroi Koumori]

@ theANdROId: Herbs, peppers, aromatics (Mirepoix, I prefer the italian soffritto more), citrus can help with lessening salt use in cooking.
I agree, life without cheese is sad... I also love cheese but I just eat some occasionally.

@Dracula9: I suppose angina counts, after all, it concerns the heart.

@Mooning Freddy: That sucks. I suppose an electrolyte solution can help you if you are not allergic to it.