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Pat Latimer patlat@yahoo.com Albany, New York age 56 married to my second husband Paul for 5 years 6 children |
I have 6 children:
I was born and have always lived in Albany, New York. I grew up in an alcoholic family and "escaped" into a violent and abusive marriage at age 17. I had 6 children by the time I was 27. I also had become an alcoholic and drug addict. After many miserable and unhappy years, I got sober in 1981 and began changing my life. I started working with other alcoholics as a counselor. At age 47, I went to college and received my Bachelor's degree in 1992. In 1994, my first marriage finally ended in divorce, after years of family court and orders of protection.
I happily married my present husband in May of 1994 and for the next 10 months was living my "dream" life. We went on a cruise and took trips to Cape Cod and other places; things I had never done before. On March 12, 1995, I woke up unable to breathe because my lungs were full of fluid. I ended up in the CCU at a local hospital, diagnosed with DCM and CHF, and an EF below 20. I left the hospital a week later with a pile of prescriptions and restrictions. I tried to go back to work but ended up on permanent Disability. In January of 1997, I had a Vo2max test with a result of 5.9, so I was off to Boston to see a transplant doctor for an evaluation. I decided not to pursue that route for a variety of reasons, after seeing him.
I was in a drug trial for Coreg beginning in May of 1997. I went to the 25mg twice daily dose, with much accompanying fatigue. I switched cardiology groups this year and the new doc agreed I was on "too much medication." He lowered my Coreg to 6.25mg twice daily and made other changes, adding Aldactone. In June of 1999, I had a stress echo, and my resting EF was 53 but my heart only works ok at rest. I am symptomatic on exertion but I have learned how to pace myself to not get exhausted. My heart size has gone down from the "huge" 7.2cm to a high normal of 5.65cm, which is a significant improvement.
| 75mg metoprolol | Twice a day |
| 20mg Zestril | Daily |
| 50mg Aldactone | twice a day |
| 0.25mg Lanoxin | Daily |
| 20meq K-dur | Daily |
| 5mg Zaroxolyn | Daily |
| 40mg Lasix | Daily |
| 10mg Zytrec | Daily |
| 200mg CoQ10 | Daily |
| Prempro | Daily |
| Calcium | Daily |
| multi-vitamin | Daily |
Dealing with this life-threatening health problem has changed me in many ways. I now have much different values than a few years ago. I value my relationship with my higher power, whom I choose to call God, my relationship with my husband, my children, grandchildren, and many friends who support me and the many people I have met through this forum.
April 21, 2000 - After my doctor decreased my meds last autumn, my heart enlarged again and my EF dropped from 53% down to 25%, and it hasn't gotten much better since. My meds changes are reflected in the meds section above.
Pat -- July 30, 1999
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.