Are You Kidding Me?

Believe it or not, I landed back in York Hospital on the cardiac floor yesterday. I went back into "active" heart failure. I was stunned. I've been feeling so well that I didn't even consider the fact that I could be in trouble at first. Fortunately I didn't ignore the signs I was seeing.

I began feeling a little tired a week ago. I've been working very long hours so I figured that was the culprit. Then this past Tuesday (three days ago) I noticed I was walking slower through the school and a little short of breath. That DID stand out as being unusual. On Wednesday I noticed that my legs were very swollen in the evening, plus I had coughed up some frothy sputum that morning. I realized I was in trouble but figured I'd give it another day and see what happened. Yesterday I had the school nurse check my legs and see what she thought. She immediately told me I needed to call my doctor. I knew that was what she was going to say. I waited until school was over and called when I was on my way to my "part-time" job. The doctor said she wanted to see me immediately. I went straight in and before I knew it I was being sent to the hospital by ambulance. She wouldn't even let me drive myself.

By the time I got to the hospital I had an IV in, had 4 baby aspirin in, and 2 doses of Nitro sprayed under my tongue. My B/P was very high (180/140 range). I was given 40 mg. of Lasix which made me pee like crazy. I finally made it to a room at 2AM this morning and was back up by 6:15 to get ready to go downstairs for some cardiac tests. I got a total of 2 hours of sleep. Fun. I was so tired by the time I was finished with everything. All I wanted to do was sleep. There's nothing restful about being in a hospital. All the tests came back ok, my labs showed one elevated level which is consistent with heart failure. I was put back on a heart med (which had been discontinued when I had surgery). My B/P should come down as the meds start working again. Yay. Now I'm just waiting to see if I can go home this evening. I hope so. I want to get into my own bed and hibernate for a few days.

As a final note, I was warned that just because I had the gastric bypass and lost weight, it would NOT "cure" the CHF. It would, however, make the condition more easily managed and less likely to occur as often or as severe. They were right. It's a good thing I have made the positive changes so far that I have. I can only imagine how much worse I would have been had I not lost over 100 pounds already. Another confirmation that I made the right decision to have the surgery.