Left heart valve
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hello my mother in law aged 69 had a heart attack in November. It is now August. She has been unwell since it happened and was hospitalised a couple of times for excess fluid build up despite being on the dietetics etc. she is currently in hospital again and she is very ill. Extremely fatigued, breathing shallow and they have taken in the last week 12 kilos of fluid off her. Her kidneys aren't working as well as they should be and her liver is struggling a bit. Her eyes look cloudy, she hardly talks and can't move much. Practically bed ridden except when physio comes in to try and sit her up in a chair and do a couple of little exercises after that she is exhausted and basically drifts in and out of sleep. She is in the Coranary Care Unit. We still don't really know what is happening and if she will recover has anyone got any advice except for a meeting in which we are trying to organise with specialists. Has anyone experienced this and can tell us what is happening here. Much appreciated.
0 likes, 13 replies
chantelle525981 timtam1974
Posted
How do you know its her left heart valves? Jave the hospital mentioned them to you?
I have aCHD and have mechanical aortic and mitral valves, her sympoms do sound like how i feel when they need changing.
I presume she has never had a problem with her heart before?
timtam1974 chantelle525981
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timtam1974
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timtam1974
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chantelle525981 timtam1974
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They can usually repair it with keyhole surgery through the groin instead of open heart surgery (i have a rare condition and have had 12 heart surgeries making it difficult for them to repair mine)
What have the hospital said they are going to do?
timtam1974 chantelle525981
Posted
The specialist have not said a lot 1 visit it was no surgery as we originally thought they could repair the valve and then they said maybe when she gets stronger. Now in this hospitalisation they are saying we just need to get rid of the fluid then we will have a meeting.
chantelle525981 timtam1974
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I'm 23 now and doing okay. My 2 mechanicsl valves both need re replacing again, my last replacement was when i was 11 and ive obviously grown out of them now.
So they are in talks about whether to attempt to re replace them and stretch the inside of my heart again or whether to put me on the transplant list. I have a CHD called Shones Complex meaning that thr left side of my heart didnt form properly and so it much smaller than it should be x
cheryl16499 timtam1974
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Did the cardiologist ever do an angiogram on her to find out exactly what type of heart condition she has? I was very ill last year and after many other test an angiogram diagonised Hocm which is inherited and passed on in a family. After treatment which was an alcohol septial ablation I've made a full recovery. Has anyone of her seblings had heart issues or already passed from them?
timtam1974 cheryl16499
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lyn1951 timtam1974
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Sounds to me as if she is in end stage heart failure, her heart muscle is soooo damaged that it can no longer pump the amount of blood required to keep her oxygen level high enough, she would be very sleepy just from lack oxygen.
Coronary care would be doing all they can for her, is she in a specialist heart hospital, from previous experience with my husband, you do need to be in a specialist heart hospital, rather than just your local hospital's heart ward, my husband was declared well enough to be discharged by our local hospital intensive heart care unit Dr, but I was luckly enough to have the nurses say to me, take him out the front door, and drive him straight to the specialist heart hospital across the city, they kept him eight days and could not understand that I HAD DRIVEN him across to the the heart hospital, rather than been transfered by ambulance.
timtam1974 lyn1951
Posted
Hello Lyn sorry to read you have give thru this also. I did say to them months ago " is this heart failure and 1 of the many doctors she seen said yes. But in saying that I have not heard the term mentioned again and we have asked for the meeting. She is in a ccu at 1 of our main hospitals but we don't have a hospital here that is just for heart patients as far as I know. No private health so she gets treated with whomever is available.
lyn1951 timtam1974
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In your previous reply to Cheryl, Dr's comment, yes the left side of her heart is weak, read it as dialated cardiomyopathy and or heart failure, complicated by leaky heart valve.
From my experience, ask what her Ejection Fraction is, normal is 65%, husbands was 23% when he was discharged from hospital 5 years ago with the comment we can do no more for him other than these tablets.
Letter to GP said expected death date less than 30 days, do not sign his death certificate, I did not see this letter until about 8 months later when I was praising the heart hospitals help to the GP, cranky nasty man he was, said Oh really and printed off the letter for me, that came as a real shock.
So with lack of knowledge that he may be dying, (we can do no more, Dr speak for he is dying), I started husband on walking program, chair to front door, for a week or so, chair at front door, then upped to chair to letter box/or boundary line, chair at letter box, after 18 months he was walking 7.5kms.
Dr's amazed he was doing so well for somebody that had such a serious heart failure.
He has had another issue occur, his electrical system of his heart has failed in the last few weeks, both left branch bundle and right branch bundle, his heartbeat was down to 30BPM, at home, again took him back to heart hospital, where his heartbeat dropped to 23BPM, but his blood pressure was holding at normal, another echo done, as well as MRI, then they decided a pacemaker and defib was required, installed, and when it was switched on he said immediatley he could feel the difference, he had energy he hadn't had for five years, and especially the last few months in the lead up to having the pacemaker installed, discharged the following morning, I did notice his weight went from 117kg to 112kg in 12 hours without fluid tablets, described to me, constant peeing.
Unfornately I am only too aware he is in the end stages of heart failure and the Dr's are playing a no win game, against a heart muscle that is seriously damaged by a virus orginally.
He still walks, watches his weight, we also watch for sudden changes in weight, fluid balance or retaining water, not a good sign for my husband.
But generally doing very well, back to walking again, about 3 - 4 kms a day, also swimming in a heated pool, or should I say floating around, and just enjoying himself in the water, his first love, specialist heart Dr's has approved him swimming, as long as he does no exert himself too much.
timtam1974
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Hey all Thankyou so much for sharing your input and support but sadly this may be my last post. My mother in law started with been ally bleeding yesterday and today they rushed her in for emergency surgery. There is a 5 inch space between the endoscopy and colonoscopy that can't be viewed by the cameras. They suspect the internal gastrointestinal bleed is in there. To go in would be too invasive and she wouldn't make it so they cancelled any further treatment. She is now on life support. If we get thru the next 24 hours there maybe some hope. Sadly I feel the medical system has let her down immensely and am struggling to deal with this. As I looked after her around the clock for 4 and half months whilst her other family members made excuses as why they couldn't help. I struggled to even look at them and left the hospital. I could hardly bare to see her on life support. I am just mortified and feel incredibly helpless in helping her anymore than what I could . They let this go too long and I believe the condition was worse than they cared to admit or they were completely incompetent. please pray for her if you are able as I will pray for you all x