My October Visit

So October 6th I went to see my Cardiologist again for a follow up appointment. Well while hooked up to the EKG I experienced some palpatations with a heart rate in the 50's. So my doctor contacted a company called Cardionet and prescribed a heart monitor for me to wear for a week. I had already worn the holter monitor for 24hrs the month prior to that and she did not see anything wrong with my electricity. Well the Cardionet revealed a different story. Some of the events I did feel, and some apparently I didn't. I say this because a couple of times when I went to record an event the monitor was already full. The maximum number of events that it holds is 6. So I just had to call Cardionet and transmit my events. Wearing that device for a week was an interesting experience. Imagine being in the grocery store and standing next to someone and your monitor records an event. When this device records it does not do so in silence. It sounds like your receiving a fax. So again imagine if you were standing next to me in line lets say and I am talking on the phone and you hear a fax machine coming from my chest area. LMBO!!!! I can laugh now, but it was pretty annoying especially since it also rang like a phone every 30 minutes. With the results from the cardionet she still has not released me for work, and have given a return date for Jan 2010. She increased my Coreg, and placing a permanent device will only happen if all else fails. I was not happy with the news, but it is what it is. I have start walking 2 miles per day (very slow)to regain some strength. I am still tired after taking the meds, but I am not experiencing palpatations everyday like I was before. They still happen, but I it not as bad.For me that shows progress. My next appointment is in Dec, and til then I will enjoy this time with my family. Now if I can get rid of this baby belly!!!!

Life after Pregnancy

I finally had the chance to meet the baby that I carried for 39 weeks in my belly. I remember holding her for the first time thinking to myself yes it was worth it. She was just beautiful with a fully head of hair. I nursed her for the first time and did not see her again for another 2 days. You are probably wondering why. Well, because of my condition I was moved to the Progressive Care Unit (PCU) floor until they released me back to Post-Partum. Because that floor had very sick patients it was unsafe to bring the baby to me, and I could not go up to the nursery to see her. So I had someone take my phone to the nursery and take a picture for me so I can at least look at her while laying in the bed in PCU with nothing to do, but sleep. Finally, they released me to the Post-Partum ward, and I was able to spend time with my daughter. I was so happy, but experiencing a level of pain from the surgery that I have never experienced in my life. I did manage to stay mobile and walk the halls all day while pushing Bella in her crib. I was only able to sleep right after taking the pain meds every 4hrs. My husband would bring my son to the hospital to see me every evening and I looked forward to those visits. My son adored his little sister from day one, and just seeing him smile everyday put a smile on my face. Finally, I was discharged and could go home to spend time with my family before my husband left for 6 weeks for his job to work in Hawaii. I know you just read that and thought why is he leaving her. It didn't bother me, so don't go off on a limb about it. LOL! . He made sure that everything was in place before leaving and that I had plenty of care. August 1st arrives, and suddenly I begin to feel symptons of my relapse. I had a mild case of edema, rapid heart beat, sensation of fluid in the lungs, coughing, and my blood pressure increased to over 160/90 with a resting pulse over 80. I called my cardiologist and he phoned in a prescription for Lasix for me to take and told me to come into the office on Monday morning. The Lasix did help with the fluid retention and helped to decrease my BP as well.




The morning of August 2nd my husband was off to Hawaii and did not return til September 13th. That was a long 6 weeks. Although my mom was here to help me its not the same as having your husband. For the first couple of weeks friends made sure that I did not have to cook. My father-in-law picked up and dropped off my son to daycare, and one of my friends and my brother-in-law took turns taking me to all doctor appointments. I was limited to things I could do so I rarely did anything and remained stressed but stress free. I was still taking a narcotic for pain relief, but I hated the way it made me feel. However, if I did not take it the pain was pure torture. Eventually, I weaned myself off the pain meds. I went to my next post-partum and was cleared back to normal activity, but the cardiologist did not do the same. On September 8th I had my follow up appointment with my Cardiologist. She wanted to see if the Metoprolol was working. Hmmmm....Well the answer was NO my EF continued to drop and Echocardiogram revealed a EF of 30%. I was thinking WTF! In 2006 I recovered so fast, and this time around the disappointments keep coming with every appointment. She told me that I could not go back to work until she sees progress. Don't get me wrong I love my baby girl, but I want to work. I feel useless staying home even though I am receiving an income. I was told that I can do low impact exercises, but my body tells me different. Next followup appointment is scheduled for October 6th. Hopefully I am given the all clear to start work on the 12th. We will see what happens!!!

Subsequent Pregnancy

    Fast forward to December 2008 the month when hope became a reality. I remember sitting at my desk at work, and feeling a needle like sensation coming through my nipples. I took a pregnancy test and the results were positive, and for the next 13 weeks I experienced nausea, colds, and sinus infections.

     In January 2009 I followed up with my Cardiologist informing her of the good news. She was excited to hear the news, however still informed me that I could relapse. The good thing is that I would be closely monitored so if a relapse did occur they would catch and treat it right away. I was advised to eat healthy, check my blood pressure on a regular basis, and to listen to my body. She wanted to see if my Ejection Fraction (EF) was still normal so she had the tech perform a Echocardiogram. As I watched the monitor I knew that my heart was still functioning normal, and that the pregnancy had not effected it. The results of the Echo was an EF of 55% which is still in normal range and I had been stable since May 2007. Awesome News! I continued the pregnancy with no signs of relapse, and my next Echocardiogram was scheduled for July 15th since my due date was August 3rd. She wanted to ensure that my heart still held a normal EF prior to delivery. I remember that office visit as if it occurred yesterday. I went in happy as normal speaking to the staff as they asked about my son, and the pregnancy. My blood pressure was taken, then I went into the room for the Echo. At this point since 2006 I have had plenty of ultrasounds on my heart, and asked many questions in the past. In turn, the Tech would always explain to me in great detail of what we were looking at. This visit was different. As I layed on the table and viewed the monitor I knew something was not right. My followup appointment had been scheduled for July 24th for the results.

     I continued my days with a positive attitude trying to convince myself that everything was ok, and that my heart was still functioning normal. However, I knew that I had relapsed, but was in great denial telling myself that everything was fine I would be ok. Now July 24th has arrived and I am looking forward to hearing good news like your EF is still normal and you will be fine for a vaginal deliverly. HA, that definitely was not the news that I received. Actually as I was waiting in the room I overheard her speaking to another doctor about her PPCM patient that had relapsed. Well, I am her only PPCM patient so I knew she was talking about me, however I was still in denial. I guess that I did not want to accept hearing that I had relapsed because at this point I had so much energy and experienced no symptons of relapse. She finally came into the room, pulled up her stool, and explained to me my test results, and informed me that they did not want any stress put on my body during labor because the result could be fatal. Wow, my EF decreased from 55% down to 40% from January to July. So she basically told me that I had to have a c-section, and not to ever get pregnant again because I could die. DAMN!!! That was alot to take in, and I cried as I ignored some phone calls, and replied to some text messages. She had to discuss delivery options with my OB so I was just hoping that I did not go into labor prior to hearing from my OB. The weekend went by, and now July 27th has arrived. I went to my OB for my regular Non-Stress Test (fetal NST), and as I checked in one of the girls told me "So todays the day, you must be excited". My response was "is it". Apparently there was a conference with my OB, High Risk OB, and Cardiologist late on the previous Friday. I had been scheduled to have a c-section at 1500, and the hospital was suppose to contact me that friday evening. Yeah, that shocked you right? Well imagine me being told the news. My husband was at work and this was not expected at all. This was happening all to fast for me, and I was worried about what was going to happen to me. All I could think about was my husband and son. I was emotionally destroyed, but somehow remained strong to others. Well, at least til Mas called me and said " Hey how are you doing?". OMG, I completely broke down on the phone. She works in Tampa and all I remember hearing her say was "I am on my way to the hospital". See my husband was at work, and I did not know if he would make it to the hospital in time since he works out in BFE. Lol! Well, Mas arrived, then Manny arrived shortly after that. They gave me the epidural, rolled me back to the operation room. My OB was quick and very detailed as he explained to me what was going on, and at 1555 (3:55 pm) Isabella was born. Shortly after my tubiligation had been completed, and the road to recovery had began.

First experience with PPCM

In 2006 at the age of 27 and approx. 3 months after the birth of my son I begin to feel tired, very short of breath, heart palpatations, and the sensation of fluid in my lungs. I went to the doctor and saw the Nurse Practitioner, I told her my symptom's and she told me to drink more fluids and not to sleep on my back she also informed me that if a develop a cough to return. Well, I did just that and for about a month it helped some then I began to cough and the other symptom's had gotten worse. I did my own research and found that it could be Postpartum Cardiomyopathy, and went back to see the my regular doctor and described to him in great detail of my symptom's. He said that I was too young, but suspected something because he rolled in the EKG and took readings of my heart. Not good, and he was worried enough to contact another office personally to have an chest X-rays done immediately, with same day results. The X-rays revealed a dilated heart, so he jumped on the phone again and called a Cardiologist and ask if he could see me right away. I did the blood work, stress test, and had a 3d ultrasound done on my heart. Results, PPCM with a ejection rate of 35%. The cardiologist strongly suggested that I do not have anymore children. Which for me that was hard to hear because I am the only child, especially since I planned to have 3 children. I was prescribed coreg (Beta-blocker), altace (Ace-Inhibitor) and lasik (diuretic). I had so much fluid in my body that I lost 18lbs in a week after taking the meds(water pill). Wow! Well I did eventually get better and by May of 2007 my EF(Ejection Fraction) had increased to 55% which was determined after having a transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE). I worked on strengthing my body by walking 6 miles on the weekends. My ultimate goal was to have another baby perhaps a baby girl. In 2008 I weaned off the meds, and discussed having another baby with my cardiologist. She advised me that there was a small percentage that I would relapse, and if I were to get pregnant I would automatically be considered high risk and monitored very close. She gave me hope, and brightened a previously wounded heart.

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