I’m sitting in my hospital room for day 3.

I’m feeling better and I’m starting to breathe better.

They took me to the Catheter lab and went to work. I didn’t get a stent.

Turns out that I had grown veins bypassing the problem.

I ate like crap for the past few months and honestly longer so now I have no choice but to change my habits if I want to live.

Yes, I want to live...


This is not a lecture. It’s just the reality of life.

Be well my Forum friends,

Pat

speedy recovery and best luck changing your ways. and Merry Christmas! You're alive, and that is a good start.

All the best: get well soon!

As someone who is recovering from a congestive heart failure (albeit from a hereditary defect), I can sympathize and wish you rapid recovery.

Been there, done that...no fun.

I'm living proof that serious health conditions like this can be overcome, or, at least managed. Every instance depends on individual variables, so once you've established the fact that you have confidence in your doctor(s) and their diagnoses, then work with them and follow their advice and meds.

It's no fun being in the hospital at any time, but especially not during the holiday season...and while life changes are not easy to make, you are still alive, and alive enough to make the needed changes. If/ when you drop the ball and fail at a change, don't beat yourself up too bad, but redouble your efforts to get back on the right track.

Don't be too hard on your medical team...try to remember that they are away from their families and working over the holidays to help take care of you.

What is the best way to eat an elephant?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years, and prayers and good thoughts for your recovery.

quote:

What is the best way to eat an elephant?

My dear late dad loved this expression.

One bite at a time.

Best of recoveries to the OP.

Hang in there. I had to go to the ER on Christmas Day five years ago. Ended up getting three coronary artery stents on Dec. 26th. I don’t want to share too many health issues here but I remember the doctor coming in and talking to me after the procedure and then me just laying in bed and crying. My mind was racing while thinking of all of the people and things that I would miss, including family and friends.

Now it’s five years later and my ejection fraction is much higher than it was then. I have been able to do many things that I thought that I would never get the chance to do.

I am not a doctor and I have no idea about your particular situation. But I can tell you that medical technology today is wonderful. Some people wax poetic about the “good old days”. Not me. Give me the present time and the medical miracles that we see every day. Follow your doctor’s advice. Seek out information from as many sources as you can.

When people as me if I am “back to normal”, I tell them that I am at my “new normal”. And I will take that any day of the week.

I wish you the very best.

Hoping for a speedy recovery. Good luck with your second chance.

Here's to a speedy recovery. Best wishes and prayers your way as you start a new way of living in the New Year. Here's to your second chance.

May God bless you brother. Kick 2021s ass.

Get well soon amigo

Three years ago. I got a bad shot from a sump pump I was checking out, 3 days later I was gasping for breath. My heart was racing at 158 BPM at Emergicare on a Saturday 2 days later.
Went to our best Heart Care Center in our area 45 minutes away.

They sedated me and I died for 28 seconds that night. The next day they checked me all out, and shocked me back into rhythm. At the time, the doctor told my wife that my heart was a flabby piece of meat and couldn't help me.

Well today, I have a report that my heart is back to normal. That the the pacemaker-defibrillator that I got has been unneeded. Big scare for a shock!!!!

PR64 - What sort of lifestyle changes will you need to implement and can they be done over time, or do they need to be started on a "cold turkey" status?

Feel better fast!

A good wake up call. Happy to hear you are on the mend. Merry Christmas !

Get well soon.

Dad had AFIB. The procedure where they crammed the shocker down the throat and resetting the rhythm never took (i.e. work for a few weeks then go back to AFIB). He ended up having to have the ablasion procedure and his heart has been great for 2 years.

My maternal Grandfather had CHF. Several times his eating habits put him in the hospital, but not for what you might think. Grandpa was always one for buying enough meat for holidays to feed 40 but we'd only have about a dozen. For example after Easter he'd eat ham breakfast, lunch, and dinner until it was gone despite that it's very important to manage the sodium content in his diet so his body didn't build up too much water. He'd wind up with his lower legs so swollen that it looked like his skin was trying to burst, then he'd develop cellulitis (very painful), and end up in the hospital for several days.

Damn, Pat. Prayers for you. You know I’m practically around the corner from you. If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask.

hopefully a speedy recovery!!

a month ago i was hospitalized/cardiac unit for afib....turns out 16+ years on 800 ibuprofen 3x's/day may have been a factor the cardiologists mentioned.

Welcome to the club.... and get well soon. I stayed away from Doctors for well over 40 years and theme discovered they aren't really that bad.... and heck, sometimes they actually save your life.

Ok so CHF is a way of life for me now. I was hospitalized 2 1/2 years ago with stage 5 CHF at 35 years old. I was drowning because of the fluid on my body and weighed in at almost 520lbs. My ejection fraction rate was 15 (you go into hospice at 19-22) and I was basically told I had 6 months to live if nothing changed.

Now 2 1/2 years later I'm down to 320lbs and still losing a couple of lbs a week. I've done this with an initial SUPER low sodium diet of less than 1000mg a day. The issue I still have is because my heart is damaged I cant do high intensity cardio so all my workouts are focused on keeping my heart rate low.

CHF recovery is possible and simple. The diuretics available now just plain work. The key (like everything) is good choices. I still monitor my weight on a daily basis and try to keep my sodium under 1500-1750. This time of year is a HUGE challenge.

Positive thoughts and best of luck.