Pam E pam_gptk@kooee.com.au Australia age 35 Married to Glenn 2 children: Toni, 13 and Kimberly, 10

My History

I was born in Newcastle, Australia in 1962, six weeks premature. I lived in Newcastle until moving to Gloucester at age 16. I lived on a farm for 18 months, where I completed my schooling. I then went to nursing school in 1981, completing my training 3 years later. After completing my training I could not get a full-time job until I got on in a local nursing home in 1985. I stayed there for over 10 years, also completing my geriatric certificate. The only reason I moved on was the public health system reshuffle in 1996. I worked part-time in a geriatric assessment ward in the local hospital for 3 years before I was redeployed again. I now work somewhere between part-time and full-time in a kidney care unit. This deals with kidney failure patients and kidney transplants.
     I had our first child, Toni, in 1984 and our second, Kimberly, in 1987. My mother died when I was 7 years old. My father was unfortunate as he lost 3 wives prior to dying in 1992. I have one full brother, who was diagnosed at the same time I was with IDCM. I also have 2 half-brothers and some step-pains in the rear.

My CHF

I was diagnosed in September of 1997 with IDCM after presenting to my PCP in January with chest pains that were becoming more frequent. My first tests were an EKG and stress test since the PCP reassurred me it was probably chest wall pains from something I had done. He had worked with me and knew me fairly well. Well, I did not pass the EKG. I have LBBB. After going back to the PCP I went for a thallium scan. That showed areas of ischemia on exertion.
     Then he decided to play it safe and send me to a cardiologist for an cath. That's where emotionally, I fell apart. What probably didn't help was that my brother said if I survived the cath, he would then have one. My cath showed clear coronary arteries and after the doctor said that I didn't hear anything else because I was too overwhelmed by the whole thing. Two days later, I was back having a gated heart pool scan.
     On Tuesday, 5 days later, I got a phone call saying that the cardiologist had a cancellation. I took the cancellation and then found that I had DCM. It did not hit me until the next day. It took me 2 months to stop crying. The only thing that kept me going was work. I rang my PCP one day and threatened suicide and all. I was seeing a psychologist for a period of time.
     My EF started at 40%. I was started on aspirin by my PCP after the thallium scan. The cardiologist started me on Zestril, taking the dose up slowly till I got to 20mg a day. Twelve months later my EF was still 40% and I was started on Toprol-XL, increasing dose till I got to 50mgs twice a day. A year later my EF was 54%. I then had problems with high blood pressure, so I was started on 2.5mg natralix a day. This brought my blood pressure down but caused other problems so I was switched to 20mg Lasix daily. Then my blood level of renin became extremely high so to lower that and help with the potassium I was switched to Aldactone, which I am still taking.
     The next year I had an EF of 51% and in 2002 56%. I have exhausted their tests for chest pain, which I still get with no apparent cause. This year I have been changed from Toprol-XL to Coreg so it will be interesting to see if there is any change in my EF. I have been having PVCs for some time now, but recently I have been going into bigimeny also, which doesn't make me feel very well at the time.
     I have polycystic ovaries, which have progressed now to polycystic ovarian syndrome, including glucose intolerance. I was put under the care of an endocrinologist for this. She was recently away and had a colleague review me. He came up by just looking at me this wonderful idea that I have partial lipodystrophy. He did several tests, including sending of blood for gene testing. He referred me to the genetics unit, where the specialist thinks that I don't have the rare partial lipodystrophy but a rarer form of atypical partial lipodystrophy. We still have several months to wait till the gene tests are complete. I will update this further as it happens.

My Meds

That's Me

Apart from all this I work, care for the house, mow the lawns and sometimes become very tired and do nothing. My interests are crafts and sewing, knitting, cross stitch, and long stitch. I am also starting wood turning.

  Pam E -- January 31, 1998

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. No one here is a doctor. No information on this page should be used by any person to affect their medical, legal, educational, social, or psychological treatment in any way. This web site and all its pages copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Jon C.