LVAD will be going ahead (Peter)

[misdee]

been to see dh. they have put him on the new strong drugs (dobutamine)) but th3ey are going to keep him on it till the op. they have given him sheets on the device (javik 2000) and iwill be trained on how to de3alwith it if things go wrong. havent actually spoken to the docs myself but will do at some point in the week. feel very overwhealmed right now, its like i'm watching someone elses lives unfold not mine and dh's.

[Enid]

thinking of you and your family

x E

[misdee]

yes miaou, but his conditon changes hour by hour.

for the 8hour op on weds i am going to be hammering this board.

[mishmash]

misdee
Hope it won't be too traumatic on you, Peter or the family and hope that this brings a new meaning to life

[hub2dee]

You hammer, hun.

I'll just be a blubbing mess I hope.

[Flossam]

When do you think you will get to see him post - op Misdee?

[RnB]

Message withdrawn

[QueenZebra]

I didn't really understand what an LVAD was so went to look it up and this site is very positive , in case it helps you feel more hopeful.

Misdee would you be up to a 3-5 sentence summary of what has happened to Peter? I was trying to explain to DH and realised I don't really understand why Peter's heart is failing....

[misdee]

right. basic quick version coming up.

April 2002, we all caught a flu like bug after a night out clubbing. loads of people sick that night. 3 weeks later peter was no better. he was getting worse. doc called, said he was basically moaning over nothing. ambulance called, they gave him a nebuliser and went away. so me and mil took him to a+e. he went stright through, as the suspected he had a blood clot on his lungs or a collasped lung as he was having chest pains. chest x-ray was done. his heart was racing (upto 200bpm at rest at some points). on call doc came to look at the x-ray and spotted his heart was enlarged. (fortunatl;y she was the cardiac specialist at the hospital). echo done there and then in a+e which confirmed dilated cardiomyopathy. peter spent 2 weeks in hospital.

now go to oct 04. flu jab done. peter gets ill, doesnt recover. local hospital treat him for pneumonia never listening to the facts i was throwing at them about showing signs of heart failure. next bout of illness we take him back to hospital further away where his cardio is based. she gets him admitted to harefield. as his heart is now enlarged it doesnt pump blood well. that has cause dthe fluid build up, the kidney problems and the liver problems. all the drugs they have tried havent worked well wnough. he needs a heart transplant but one hasnt come up so LVAD is the only option left and its not one they do a lot.

sorry for the way i'm tyoing, have dd3 on my lap.

btw, thats is john fishers site, he is dh's inspiration.

[Flossam]

when will you get to see him Misdee

[misdee]

hopefully thursday.

[QueenZebra]

Thanks for writing all that, I understand better, now.

That is amazing, isn't it, the way that guy's heart recovered after the LVAD was fitted, jut because it gave his heart a much needed rest. After years of trouble, too.

Did the flu bug or the flu jab cause Peter's heart to fail? Did the flu virus just nudge him over the edge? Why did this happen to Peter & not to other people?

DH has an enlarged heart but "they" have examined it closely & say it's because of his atheletic past (used to cycle competitively, has a high VO2-max, that kind of thing). Always gives the doctors an initial scare when he needs treatment for something, though.

[NotASecretAgent]

Bless you. I hope it all goes well and you can give him a big Kiss on thurs. I'm an ITU nurse, so if you have any questions give me a try, although I'm not specifically cardiac and I'm sure the nurses there will be excellent. xxx

[NotASecretAgent]

Shit!

[sparklymieow]

the flu virus went to his heart.

[QueenZebra]

ps, can you remind us how old is Peter?

[sparklymieow]

I know a bit

[misdee]

they think it was a virus that caused it. it basically sent his immune sytem haywire and instead of attacking the virus itn attacked his own body. the flu jab is meant to protect him from further exposure to bad virus' but for some reason, could be co-indicince, dunno, it seemed to have made things worse last year.

[Janh]

So could that happen to anybody any time, mieow/misdee, or do you have be predisposed? I mean the chap on the website had loads of heart probs in his family but I haven't got the impression from misdee that Peter has?

[sparklymieow]

Remember Beaches??? She had DCM

[misdee]

26 now. birthday the other week.

[misdee]

they do have mild heart problems in his family (MIL had hole in heart, as did his middle brother, ypunger has murmur but not major major things)

[QZebra]

what a piece of pisser bad luck it had to happen to Peter.

[misdee]

Its generally familiarial i belive, i know of families with several members affected. i think sallystrawberry husband and his brother have it. my kids will need to be screened, just in case, but the general feeling it wa thr virus that caused peters probs.

[misdee]

there is no surgery for DCM really, LVAD only recently been used. they may have 'fiddled' about with your neighbours valaves, a si know oifg a little girl who had valve op and she has DCM. peters valves are pretty useless, but then so is he heart, so no op there for him.