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Pay Attention to Your Body Fellas : Long Read

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    #16
    Originally posted by 175gr7.62 View Post
    Thought I would share with ya’ll the little adventure I’ve been on and maybe it will keep someone from dealing with the same thing.

    I’ve always considered myself to be fairly indestructible when it comes to health issues. I’ve never been sick, used to run marathons, and even did a couple Ironman competitions back in the day. I stayed pretty active even when I got of the service 18yrs ago but as kids were born and work got more intense I slacked off a bit.

    I noticed about 10yr ago that I just wasn’t feeling as well as I used to. I even noticed a few times that it felt like my heart didn’t beat in a regular rhythm but I didn’t think anything about. Over the years though I still noticed that I just wasn’t the same. Thought it might be testosterone so I started doing replacement therapy about 4yrs ago.

    The TRT didn’t really seem to change anything and the worse I felt the more I drank. The more I drank the worse I felt. I was drinking 6-8 tall boys a night and it wasn’t anything to knock out 2 30 packs of ‘stones at the lease on a 3 day weekend.

    Fast forward to about 2 months ago. I realized something needed to change. When I was 35 I walked around at about 170lbs. I was now 5-9 and 210. I decided to lay off the beer and start exercising and working out again. I jumped full speed into and figured in a couple weeks I would start feeling better.

    A month passes and if anything, I feel worse. I haven’t lost a pound and my 5 1/2 mile walk gets harder every day instead of easier. At the 6 week point I can barely breathe when I get in bed and I’m up to 215lbs and my belly is so swollen it was like I had a beach ball in it.

    The night of Thursday Aug 12 I thought I was going to suffocate in bed. I couldn’t breathe and nothing I did seemed to make it better. Most of the pressure was under the upper RH side of my abdomen and I convinced myself that there was something wrong with my gallbladder. Most of the symptoms matched using my Google-Foo skills. I told myself that if I didn’t feel better in the morning I was going to the emergency clinic.

    Friday the 13th….no change so I head to Hospitality ER. They are slammed with Covid but I get seen in about an hour. Tell them/show them the swelling in my belly and they do a CT scan of my abdomen. It’s full of fluid. One of the doctors said it looked like there was fluid in the lower part of my lungs but the image didn’t show much since they were trying to see my abdomen. They did a CT of my chest and my heart and lungs are completely surrounded with fluid.

    They suspect there may be something wrong with my heart so they order a BNP test. Results should be less than 100 for a 45yr old man and mine is 700……heart failure. They pump me full of Lasix to start getting fluid off and tell me I need to se a cardiologist pronto.

    I’m lucky that one of my best friends is the Director of the cardiac center at the local hospital. He gets me in 2 days later morning and does an EKG. I’m in Atrial Fibrillation. My resting heart rate is 141 and the rhythm is so screwed up they can’t read my blood pressure.

    They schedule me for a cardioversion 3 days later. This is where they shock your heart to put it back in rhythm. The electro cardiologist tries it 3 times and it won’t take.

    Next step….cardiac catheterization to attempt to see what is going on. Again, my buddy is on point and gets me scheduled for 5 days later. Results……a kick in the nutz. Dilated Cardiomyopathy. My heart is ~70% enlarged and it’s functioning at 10-15%. The results are so bad they check it twice because they haven’t seen results like that in a 45yr old man.

    The doctor who did the procedure told me my 5-6yrs of beer drinking has destroyed my heart. You die with 10-15% function. Basically told me I need a transplant and he doesn’t refer patients who have substance abuse problems. He considers drinking every day substance abuse. My wife and I leave the hospital in a state of shock. This was this past Wednesday.

    I have a follow up 2 days later on Friday with my normal cardiologist. He tells me I have had afib for a long long time which has significantly weakened my heart. The drinking didn’t help it but the exercising and working out pushed it over the edge.

    That brings us today. I’m having to wear a “life vest” that constantly monitors my heart and will shock me if it quits. I am have cardiac ablation done Thursday morning where they will attempt to burn the nerves in my heart to stop the afib. If they can stop the afib then there is a chance my heart can heal and strengthen to the point I can live a normal life.

    If the ablation procedure doesn’t work I will have to have a pacemaker/defibrillator implanted to get the rhythm correct. If the correct rhythm can be maintained there is a possibility that my heart will strengthen. They are saying I need to be at a minimum of 35% function. If we can’t get it up to that level the next step will be a heart transplant due to my age.

    I’m going next week to see an advanced heart failure cardiologist at Medical City in Dallas next week where we’ll start having initial talks about a transplant.

    So fellas….if you think something isn’t right with your body go get checked out sooner rather than later. If I would have gotten checked out 10 years ago (or even 5) I wouldn’t be in this boat. I’m fortunate that I have close friends at both the local Cardic Center and at Medical City. I’ve got a couple million in life insurance so the wife and kid will be covered no matter what happens. I have some great friends that care about me and I’ve realized that as much as I **** and moan about my wife she is actually a pretty good woman and loves me.

    I’ll tell ya, I never considered the possibility of being dead before 50 though outside of a car wreck or something. Hopefully things work out in my favor and I’ll get to stick around a while longer though.

    To put a positive spin on it…I weighed 216lbs on Aug 13th and I weighed 165 Friday morning so this is a great way to take some pounds off. [emoji1787]


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Prayers up for you man.


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      #17
      Prayers up I work on a inpatient heart failure heart transplant unit at a large university hospital and see this everyday. Stay positive watch your diet and fluid intake and take all your meds religiously. The heart failure cardiologist are the ones to get you straightened out. Also have to watch the kidneys as well they follow what the heart does. It can be overwhelming but it seems you are on the right track and are willing to do what it takes. If you have any questions or ever need anything pm me

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        #18
        Dadgum man, that is unreal, especially at your age. Will be in my prayers.

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          #19
          Originally posted by Lsube0555 View Post
          Prayers up I work on a inpatient heart failure heart transplant unit at a large university hospital and see this everyday. Stay positive watch your diet and fluid intake and take all your meds religiously. The heart failure cardiologist are the ones to get you straightened out. Also have to watch the kidneys as well they follow what the heart does. It can be overwhelming but it seems you are on the right track and are willing to do what it takes. If you have any questions or ever need anything pm me

          The meds are the worst. I can count on one hand the number of pills I have taken up until 2 weeks ago. I have 7 different ones now. The Eliquis is $500/month AFTER insurance!! Messes my stomach up.


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            #20
            Wow, may GOD Bless you and your family. I remember us PMing each other a few months ago about you not feeling good about yourself and your situation. Now, it makes sense. Take care.

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              #21
              Prayers my friend. I had an ablation done 3 years ago at 70yoa because cardioversion did not work for me either. Prior to it I could not walk 50 yds w/o stopping. Up until 3 months ago I felt better than I have in a long time. Recently afib showed back up and may have to have another ablation. Pray that they begin the reversal process for you as our hearts are prone to improve theirselves with a little jumpstart. Good luck.

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                #22
                Dang I hate to hear it! Sounds like you are getting on the right track, best of luck getting this behind you and back to good health

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                  #23
                  Prayers sent

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                    #24
                    Prayers for your recovery...

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                      #25
                      What a story. I'm glad you finally got checked out. Praying for some heart healing/strengthening.

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                        #26
                        Prayers up

                        Wow BC in my life I drank enough for 5 people!
                        I’m humbled by your story
                        If you need a ear pm me

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                          #27
                          Thank you so much! Will have you in our continuous prayers brother!

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                            #28
                            Prayers up

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                              #29
                              Prayers sent for you and your family.

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                                #30
                                Thank you for sharing. Prayers sent for you and your family.

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