I live in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, which is about a 30 minute drive from Fort Smith, Arkansas, and a 2 hour drive from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I have been divorced for about 9 years. My 3 children have given me 4 grandchildren: Ashley, age 9; Jeremiah, age 3; Katie, age one; and Brooke, age 9 months. I am a retired elementary school teacher of 27 years, and have been retired 2 years. I retired thinking I would do something else with my life. Then I started have all these health problems. Of course, the last few years of my teaching career, I had a lot of problems being short of breath, and being very fatigued. I have had a lot of problems with allergies and asthma, so I thought that it had something to do with that.
About 3 months after retiring, I started having spells of lightheadedness, feeling like I was fixing to pass out, and palpitations. I went to my doctor and he referred me to a cardiologist who was a DO in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He did 3 different tests: myocardial scan, echo, and dipyridam stress test. He misdiagnosed me as having hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and put me on 180mg Covera HS. He also told me never to take diuretics. He said my ejection fraction was normal.
About a year later, I changed insurance and the cardiologist I was going to did not use the new insurance so I went to a cardiologist in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He said he didn't think that was what I had and the medicine I was taking was making me worse. He changed my medicine and also started giving me diuretics. He did a heart cath last April at St. Francis in Tulsa and it showed that I had cardiomyopathy, CHF, global hypokinesis of the left ventricle, and that my EF was 30%. He said my cardiomyopathy was caused by a viral infection I had sometime in the past.
| 25mg atenolol | Daily |
| 5mg Altace | Daily |
| 20mg Demadex | Daily |
| 10mg Claritin | Daily |
| Deseryl | Daily |
| 10mg Fosamax | Daily |
| 110mcg Flovent | 2 puffs twice a day |
| Proventil | 2 puffs 4 times a day |
| 100mg CoQ10 | Daily |
| one multi-vitamin | Daily |
I originally was taking 10mg of Altace twice a day and 40mg Demadex daily but my blood pressure dropped so low my primary care physician changed it. Now my blood pressure is fine. The Deseryl is for depression and to help me sleep at night.
I just recently got on Social Security Disability. I was able to get on within 6 months. While trying to get on SSD, they sent me to a doctor to have a pulmonary function test done. I had the results sent to my primary care physician. He told me that it showed I also have restrictive lung disease. He said that meant my lungs were stiff, like my heart. He gave me a steroid inhaler (Aerobid) to see if it helps my breathing. Since finding out about my lungs, I am going to find out what vitamins I need to take to help my lungs.
My interests are reading, especially books like John Grisham's books, buying Longaberger Baskets, and gardening. My house is full of Longaberger baskets and the gardening I do is growing a few flowers in front of my house and some tomato plants. Fresh tomatoes out of the garden are my favorite thing to eat. I just can't get enough homegrown tomatoes. I also watch TV a lot. I was always the type of person who did things and accomplished things at a fast pace. I have had to slow down and take it easy. Now it takes me longer to get things done, and I never seem to accomplish anything. I am always tired, and needing to rest. It is hard for me to adjust to this way of life.
Shirley -- November 28, 1999
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