Heart Failure to Transplant: All Things For Good

I posted the following to my CaringBridge journal on Nov 11, 2014:

I'm so happy to be home!

Last night I spent the night at my in-laws' house with the kids since they were already asleep.

After a relaxing morning, we came home in time for lunch. It was so wonderful to come home to a clean house!

I wanted to keep it that way so I unpacked the car one bag at a time and put everything in its place.

The good news is I didn't feel exhausted, wiped out, fatigued or achy during or after that task.

We ate lunch and now are relaxing together watching Peter Pan.


Going to the hospital was a little upsetting and scary, but it was important and beneficial in many ways.

1. The heart failure/transplant team and I both gained a much better understanding of my condition and how best to manage my symptoms for the best quality of life.

A. I have now been thoroughly examined by all three lead cardiologists on the team, who each have their own approach and assumptions and biases, which means ultimately I will get a more well rounded opinion of the best treatment for me.

B. The round-the-clock monitoring gave us important insight into how my body reacts to sodium, medication, fluid intake and rest and allowed the team to fine tune their recommendations for care to keep me stable. The best part is that the recommendations are actually less restrictive and involve less medication.

C. We were able to identify that a large portion of my shortness of breath is more related to the Valley air than to my heart condition, which gives me other ideas for treatment approaches... How about air purifier for my house? I want to say I've seen a personal air purifier that you can wear in a catalog like Brookstone, Sky Mall or Sharper Image but maybe I just dreamed that...

2. I was already in the hospital when I had the worst and scariest symptoms Saturday night: nausea, cold sweat, near fainting, racing heart beat, plummeting blood pressure. Although these symptoms were possibly intensified by the engorgement I experienced because of separation from my babies, I think I was headed to a crisis like that anyway based on what we know now about my body being too dry for my heart to tolerate.

3. I built rapport with the heart failure/transplant team and many of the nurses on the cardiac telemetry unit, and made a new friend in Nurse Linda.

4. I am rested.

5. Adam and I had a great time driving back from the hospital just the two of us in his old blue Mitsubishi Mirage which we are about to sell. It was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect, and it evoked fond memories of road trips together in that car when we were first dating and married.