I was actually feeling better today, really excited about getting 5 juice boxes and my gatorade down. I took the dog on a walk, and it was nice to get outside and speak with some neighbors. Everyone was very supportive and offered to help in any way, which is always nice to know.
I started making dinner around 6:30pm, and the phone rings. A cardiologist at Dreyer called to let me know my echocardiogram results - yeah, never a good sign that time of night. She said she wanted to tell me that my heart was impacted with whatever was going on. I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, and she mentioned something about people being from 20-60 (not sure what that number was), and I was about a 25. 60 is good. 20 is not. She told me she wanted me to see a cardiologist, and I mentioned my cardiologist Dr. Gordon. They're fitting me in the day she gets back next Thursday. The doctor who called said they want to put me on a beta blocker tomorrow, and monitor my symptoms closely. She asked if I had shortness of breath, coughing, swelling in my legs, chest pain, etc. I said no (thankfully)! My left side was feeling "numb" the last few days, but I can still feel anything to the touch and have full mobility, so it could just be a strange side effect. I checked for blood clots, and nothing hurts or is swollen, and I'm trying to move about a lot during the day - nothing major like a shower until the evening when Adam is with me, but just to get up and go to the bathroom so many times, go to the fridge to get my gatorades and juice boxes, etc. I am definitely not laying around in bed all day. The cardiologist took the name of my pharmacy, and said her nurses would call in the morning to set up my appointment with Dr. Gordon next week. She wanted to just let me know, so I didn't get the news from northwestern tomorrow when they received the faxes.
I called my parents and then called my cousin Katie (who I called me earlier today and I gave her all good news then this). Katie and I discussed the symptoms and things to look for, and I told her I really didn't seem to show signs of any of them, and I'm uber paranoid at this point. I remember my blood pressure and blood oxygen level has been great all while I was in the hospital, and I never had any swelling, so I'm focusing on these positive things. Katie helped put things in perspective that this condition could have been really bad 5 weeks ago when this started, and it's actually better now than it was. While my echo is worse than last year, it may be better than 8/31 when all this flared up badly so we don't really have a good benchmark. Good point. She also said that the treatments for this are beta-blockers - which was being prescribed, a pacemake - which I already have, and prednisone to stop the inflammation - which I've been on since 9/13. So, the anxiety dropped a few levels. Finally, that little pacemaker may be really paying off and keeping everything in shape through all this.
I'll be calling Dr. G in the morning, just to confirm going on the beta-blocker and if she wants me to see a cardiologist sooner or get any other organ testing done. Needless to say, I'm drinking my nutrition drinks, taking all my meds, drinking water to keep that bladder and kidneys in check, etc. etc. I will beat this... whatever the hell this is.
I just sent an email to the management team at my company this work, sending out my final email until further notice. It's time to just focus on one thing - my health. I'm cherishing my time with the kids and Adam more than ever, and counting all my blessings every day. Thank you for the continued prayers.
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