Carla S carla@cnbt.com Texas, USA age 36 married to Robert

Before CHF

I grew up in a small central Texas town and loved life. All through school, I was in everything possible. Plus, I maintained a straight grade A average and worked 30 to 35 hours a week. Life was great. I graduated Salutatorian of my Senior class and out into the world I went. I went to college but decided I like making money more so I went to work full-time. As I looked around me, all my friends were getting married and having children - and getting divorced - but I struggled to find that perfect person. I wanted what my parents had, as they have now been married 39 years. That's very hard to find these days.
     Well, in 2000 at age 32, I met that person. It was a blind date. Finally, I found someone I could see myself growing old with. I had some problems throughout the years with high blood pressure and depression. My grandfather had been murdered in 1988 and the case was never solved. Way down deep, that still boils and cuts away at me. However, things were finally looking up. When this wonderful man Robert, asked me to marry him in 2002, I immediately went to my PCP and told him that I wanted to check into future options for children since this was a lifelong dream. I think it is for most little girls! I wasn't getting any younger and would turn 35 two weeks after our wedding. I had been taking only one pill a day, Vasoretic 5/12.5mg. That pill is not safe during pregnancy, so he tried putting me on something safer.
     In about 2 months, I got sick and started having trouble breathing. If I got excited or moved too quickly, I felt like I was drowning. In school, I had problems with always being short-winded during sports so I blew it off. My dad had severe asthma as a child so I didn't think much of it since I always seemed a little borderline with asthma - in wintertime, with allergies, etc.
     I went into the ER one Sunday morning and my PCP happened to be the doc on call. He read up on my new blood pressure medication and discovered that it could aggravate asthma symptoms and told me to stop taking it. He did take a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. Hold this thought since it will come back later in the story. I went back on my Vasoretic and immediately started to improve so I put the pregnancy thing off until a year later, after the wedding. I had no problems of any kind.

My CHF

In October of 2003, we decided to pursue the pregnancy thing again. I went back to the same PCP and he started me on another "safe" medication. Within 5 days, I gained 7 pounds and my ankles were the size of my calves! He looked down and said, "Hmmm, you'd better stay on your old med and not get pregnant." He shook his head and told me that he couldn't help me anymore, but that I might want to consult an internal medicine doc, and he sent me on my way. That's the smartest thing he ever did for me.
     I immediately made an appointment with an internist. She didn't give up because she knew something wasn't right. She worked with me for a few weeks, weening me off the old medicine and onto the new medicine so my kidneys could adjust to the absence of the diuretic. Everything was going great until January 2004.
     I started feeling bad but didn't think anything of it because I get Cedar Fever every year. That week, the Cedar pollen count had been over 20,000! Then one night I sat up in bed and absolutely couldn't breathe! It scared me to death and my husband drove me to the local ER - the same ER I had gone to before. This time another doctor treated me. He started out by giving me 2 breathing treatments but noticed that my oxygen count was low. He ordered a chest x-ray thinking that I had pneumonia. He quickly brought it to my attention that my heart size was rather "generous" and that I had fluid on my lungs. He gave my a diuretic to help with the fluid and I was back in my internist's office the next morning.
     Within 24 hours, I was at a cardiologist's office having an echocardiogram done, I was told that my EF was 25%. What does that mean? I was then given the biggest shock of my life. All I heard was "heart failure" and and that I was going to die. Of course, that's not what he really said but that's what I heard. I cried for a solid week and began taking 6 pills a day! I had to go back to the cardiologist just to have the discussion all over again. My diagnosis is thought to be viral cardiomyopathy. Everything else appears fine with no artery blockages. Like the doc told me, it just happened. The doctor doesn't think any amount of exercise, dietary changes, or anything would have prevented it. It was just my luck! The virus came and went. It could have been something as simple as a cold bug and all I felt was a runny nose!
     I have never, ever been so mortified in my life. I really can't even remember those first few days. How could I have gone in to the doc to become a mom taking one pill a day and come out with such a devastating diagnosis?! The hardest part was being told that I would never be a mom since a pregnancy would be too hard on my heart and I would probably die! How is my new husband going to react to this news? The kicker is that after my cardiologist pulled all my past records, it was determined that the enlarged heart showed up on the x-ray in 2002 and my PCP, who knew me better than anyone, missed it!
     So, here I sit. I waited awhile to write this, as I still find myself babbling. At first, all I read was 5 to 10 years and you're going to die, but that's horse puckey! I'm going to beat this. I could stand to improve with the salt thing, but I take my meds faithfully every day.

My Meds

Living With CHF

I've also joined Curves and try to go every day. I feel so great and would have never thought in my wildest dreams that I have something so terribly wrong with me. I work full-time at a stressful job and then go home to do yard work! Nothing has changed except for this cloud that looms over me every day. I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband. Oh yeah, I did find a good one! He's my pillar of strength and fully believes that I will recover and we will be able to have our own child in a couple of years. We'll see. Nine months out and I'm still at a 25% EF. I'll have another echo in December.
     I thank God for every day and to see the season's change once again. I also thank God for Jon, this site, and for each of you wonderful people that I now consider my friends! May God continue to bless and strengthen each of you!

Carla - September 29, 2004

All information on this site is opinion only. All concepts, explanations, trials, and studies have been re-written in plain English and may contain errors. I am not a doctor. Use the reference information at the end of each article to search MedLine for more complete and accurate information. All original copyrights apply. No information on this page should be used by any person to affect their medical, legal, educational, social, or psychological treatment in any way. I am not a doctor. This web site and all its pages, graphics, and content copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Jon C.