Giant Cell Myocarditis

[ButterflyKizzez]

Hello, I lost my dad a little over a year ago due to Giant Cell Myocarditis.  Like 2 or 3 weeks before he was diagnosed with this he was took to the ER because he had a low HR around (30 or so) and he was put in the hospital and had a pacemaker put in. After a week of being in the hospital for that he was sent home and then had to be taken back to the hospital 36 hours later because he was having trouble breathing and couldn't sleep or eat and was faint feeling. He was at the hospital for 3 days and had to be put on life support because of his lungs filling up with fluid. Later that day he was transfered to University of Michigan Hospital because the 1st one didn't have the equipment that he needed to survive this or the doctors to do the tests he needed. U of M done a biopsy of his heart to find out what was causing this and the results came back as the giant cell myocarditis. He was at U of M for a week and he had to be taken of life support because he didn't respond to the one and only treatment. His kidney's had shut down and his liver was failing. If the testing was done for this in the beginning and the treatment given sooner could my dad have survived this? It bothers me all the time. My dad was rather healthy except he did drink alcohol some, but that wasn't the cause of this. 3 days after he passed away I had his first grandson who he never got to meet.  I would appreciate it if someone could please give me some kind of answer. Thanks

[ButterflyKizzez]

Thank you :) it does help thinking about it that way it is still hard sometimes though. But I have my son and fieance to help keep me sane.

[gmachris518]

I'm sorry about your loss.  

Some questions never get an answer, and most of the time it's because there is no one answer.

I do think that when we are born that we are given a certain amount of time to be on this Earth, and that time is diffferent for everyone.  The bottom line is, when that time is up, it's up, and it doesn't matter what else goes on.....it's up.

I guess a person could find some comfort in knowing that he didn't have to suffer for very long.  Some people hang on, in pain, for years.  They suffer, yet there is nothing that can be done to help them, and so they die a very slow agonizing death....your Dad was fortunate in that he didn't have to suffer for very long.


I don't think the timeline was the cause of your Dad's demise, but rather the ailment he was suffering with.  I don't think the outcome would have been different, no matter when they did the tests.  I do think that if they had found it earlier that they would have done a lot more to him, and perhaps made his last days worse than they were.  Some of the treatments they do are terrible, and very painful for the patient....but since they didn't find your Dad's problem until it was too late, they couldn't put him through the gauntlet of, what I see as, torture.

I hope, somehow you find some comfort in knowing that your Dad didn't have to go through all of the "stuff" before he slipped away....I think it's a better way to go.

And, now, one more thing.....Congratulations on the new baby.....makes sure the little guy knows all about Grandpa, and what a great person he was.

Take care, and I do hope the best for you.