Sunday, September 28, 2008

Congestive Heart Failure - What da ?#@% is that?


I have had a roller coaster summer.First of the excitement of searching for and BUYING our FIRST house!And then now suffering from yet another health problem.
i don't know how many of you know that I have Mixed Connective Tissue disease, a chronic disease that i will live with the rest of my life. This strange disease is cannot be defined as it can have many diseases within the mix. But, They are all autoimmune diseases, where basically your body attacks itself. I have a combination of lupus, fibromyalgia, raynaud's phenomenom, arthritic psoriasis, inflamation, fatigue, GERD, etc.But, the point is this past month i found out that I have yet another debilitating disease...Congestive Heart Failure. My husband eneded up taking me to the ER, days before we were to move into our new house. He took me in because I had trouble breathing, coughing, and just wanted to lie down and sleep. The rest of the week, I could'nt tell you about- since I hardly have any memory of it! I did spend 2 1/2 days( they released me on the 3rd evening) in the hospital being drained of my blood for tests and wheeled all over to be poked and probed. It was nice and queit though. :wink: Unfortunately the moe into the new house went terribly bad and I have no idea where 60% of things are...somehwhere in a box in the garage. Luckliy my parents were able to come from Hawaii to help me recoup, and help Dave with the move.So, sorry to be rambling, but right now, all my "human realm" friends dont understand what I am going thru right now. I went from feeling like a "normal" depressed, sick person to a sicker, more depressed person - not to mention an extra 10+ pound of water retention!So, basically something happened to cause my heart to stop pumping as hard as it should, normal pumpage is 70+% rate, I registered at 30%. This caused my heart to get big to make up for the bad pumping, making breathing faster and harder, casuing me to have shortness of breath. All this causes leaks and other problems, leading to high blood pressure, and a very high pulse---not to mention the water retention-- which causes very bad dry hacking coughs that kept me awake for days!So, now I am still working with bunch of specialist, one who I call the 'reeper"- my cardiologistm just becuse he looks like one of those creepy old men (like the preacher guy in the "Poltergiest" movie.having a heart/cardio MRI next week, hopefully it will give us some ideas what caused this to happen so we can control it correctly.
And of course, being a web addict I have found that the prognosis can be as early as 4-5 years for death. THIS SCARES the shit out of me. I know not everything it true and legitamate, and I an only 36 years old, but I am literally writing my "bucket list" here, I am freaking out and the only thing that is truley grounding me are my Koi in my bakyard pond. I go out 3x to see them, talk, and meditate with them. But, sooon ORegon weather is going to make that hard in the rain.
Still rambling.....On the bright sidem .I did win a local scrapbook queen contest and got a gf for $250 for the store. I bought 10 sets of cubicle type storage untis for my new scrpabook room. hopefully, I'll have enough strength to put these together and set up my space.
So, anyone with info on Congestive Heart Failure, please e-mail me.Thanks for listening, it has really put me a in good place to get to bed for the night.
And hugs or prayers are very much appreciated!Aloha, Mel

Monday, September 15, 2008

I'm Alive!

Amazing but true, after a month of having trouble breathing, I ended up at the ER!
I can't remember much of that week, I was so out of it.
And this all happened during the first week of our move to our new house!

Anyway, I ended up being hospitalized for almost 3 nights.

My diagnoses were : Congetive Heart Failure, High Blood Pressure and Heart rate, elevated liver toxins, Urinary track infection, gallstones, anemia, and jaundice.....right on deaths door step. But of course I didn't see any reason that I had to be there in the hopital and was pretty perturbed about the whole thing.

Meanwhile, my parents, visiting from Hawaii, as well as my brother Matt and his family were busy moving all of our lovely crap from our old house to the new.
Boxes were filled, stored, hid, buried, etc... and know I have no idea where anything is. Especially that ELUSIVE OVERDUE library book that is haunting me!

And since I have been back home, nothing to drastic has changed. I have been given new heart / blood pressure medications, take off some Lupus / Connective tissues medications......and still feel as crappy as ever. And maybe even, if possible more crappy. I have no energy. Walking is a hardthing to do, and those stupid stairs in this house is killing me! I huff and puff like the big bad wolf at the top, until I catch my breath.

I have no idea if we will ever get this house unpacked, or if I will even feel the same healthwise.
But, I do know that I enjoy my new backyard, and my new five fishy Koi friends who are my daily therapy and joy.




Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sienna's Hannah Montana Diva Party - July 12









It was an awesome Hannah Montata Diva Party!
They got their make-up done, dressed up in sparkley dresses, shoes, and hats, and got to walk the red carpet! The also had fun sing karoke style with Hannah montata!

Welcome Spring!