Howdy and thanks for taking the time to read my post. As many of you know I am the worried wife.lol...hubby has had a massive stroke 7 months ago after a cardio version..k...first his medical history which I will admit I don't understand all of it...
Paroxysmal Afib--irregular heartbeat I believe
Chest pain, mild diffuse (?) CAD (?) in LAD (?) and CCX (?) cath 8/2005 (cath the heart?)
Chronic granulomatous disease in lungs(1st seen on an xray while in the Navy..not sure about this either, told not to worry about it)
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, predominantly septum an apex..( thickened heart)
Mild MR (Mitral Regurgatation)
Cerebral artery stroke
Chronic back pain
While in ICU for his stroke I was called and told he went into heart failure, but not to worry as it was not abnormal under the circumstances and they were treating him...he was transfered to re-hab where he went back into heart failure and was treated and then came home after 3 weeks. (Not enough re-hab but a whole other story- he is in outpatient 2 X week thru the VA)
This past winter, he got real sick. We had a blizzard that night..over 2 1/2 feet of snow..cold sweats, dry heaves, seeing things,,ect..I kept going out to plow and coming back in for him and it took me 4 hrs to get our driveway clear. The nurse shows up, says, yes he is sick, calls the VA..they say push fluids, prob the flu..I know better...call an ambulance...sure enough he went into heart failure...they put him on Lasix 20mg 1 X day...that was that..
Now today I am reading about stages of heart failure..sigh....I think I have a new question for his cardiologist next visit...cause I thought once you had it under control..well..it was under control...
So....will this contiue to get worse as years go by?
He takes 120 MG of Sotalol 2 X day...and his Lasix.....they took him off Toprol because his blood pressure was just so low he couldn't keep his eyes open...his INR is all over the place...doc said he likes it around 2 1/2..but it is always up and down..yesterday it was 4.7...they will recheck tom....but he has gone down to 1.7 at times..not sure why its all over the place...it has been 8 months (July 2) since his stroke and every week his level is off....sigh...any ideas anyone??? His nurse has told me that he may have another 10 yrs but more than likely its closer to 5 but 3-5 was more realistic..sigh...she told me that about 4 months ago..which is one reason I cry all the time cause I just dont know what to think or anything....It is so hard taking care of him but I feel like he should not spend his last couple of years in a VA home...so ....I buck up and do what I do and do a lot of hoping...
thanks all for reading
Cheryl