I know it's been awhile since the last posting and I do apologize for this. There really hasn't been to much news. I am still having difficulty breathing and this recovery has been well.... less than pleasant. My chest is feeling better and I am off of all major pain meds that I was taking. I am only taking Ibuprofen for pain at this point. I am still doing my walking everyday even though it is difficult and tiring due to the shortness of breath.
Today I had a follow up with my Cardiologist and we now have a more complete reason as to why I am still feeling short of breath. It has been determined that my diaphragm has been paralyzed. Therefore, making breathing difficult since it is a muscle that is part of your respiratory system. For the last 10 weeks we have been told that the diaphragm is high up on my lung instead of below and in between the lungs. It was like that after they had completed the surgery. We are now told that it is now paralyzed. My Cardiologist is sending me back to rehab for 8 weeks to try and open up my left lung some more and strengthen some of the muscles surrounding the diaphragm. When asked if my diaphragm would become "unparalyzed" I was told "probably not".
I spoke to a friends husband today who is a Pulmonologist and explained to him my situation and what I had been told by my Cardiologist. He has informed me that this does happen with Open Heart patience about 25% of the time. There are many reasons this can happen. The most likely reason and most common is that when they froze my heart during surgery part of the nerves that come from the spinal cord and connect to the diaphragm were damaged. Other reasons can be that the diaphragm was injured during surgery or one of the nerves was nicked during surgery. There is really no way except to go through a whole lot of testing and even then it's a maybe to find out WHY it is damaged. If it is because of the damaged nerve from the heart being frozen then maybe in time (he is saying about 1 year) the nerves could heal and my diaphragm could become unparalyzed. To me... THAT IS HOPE!!!
So I continue on with this recovery and pray that a miracle will happen. I am very happy to report that I am not having any Arrhythmias at all. I even had a few cups of coffee for the first time in 3 years. I started driving again last week. I continue to take baby steps in the recovery process but I look back 10 weeks ago and compare it to how I feel today and I see progress.
So I ask once again for prayers that a miracle will happen and my diaphragm will get better. I will have another echo done in October which will hopefully show that my valves are still working properly and the size of my heart has shrunk. The doctors have told me that my heart will never be normal size again due to the amount of time and how much it was enlarged but it will shrink back to a "livable" size eventually.
Thank you again for all of you prayers and well wishes through these last 6 months. I hope to one day run in the March of Dimes again as I have not been able to in about 5 yrs due to health problems. I know I will get there, I guess I just need a little more time (and a diaphragm that works would be nice too
).
Today I had a follow up with my Cardiologist and we now have a more complete reason as to why I am still feeling short of breath. It has been determined that my diaphragm has been paralyzed. Therefore, making breathing difficult since it is a muscle that is part of your respiratory system. For the last 10 weeks we have been told that the diaphragm is high up on my lung instead of below and in between the lungs. It was like that after they had completed the surgery. We are now told that it is now paralyzed. My Cardiologist is sending me back to rehab for 8 weeks to try and open up my left lung some more and strengthen some of the muscles surrounding the diaphragm. When asked if my diaphragm would become "unparalyzed" I was told "probably not".
I spoke to a friends husband today who is a Pulmonologist and explained to him my situation and what I had been told by my Cardiologist. He has informed me that this does happen with Open Heart patience about 25% of the time. There are many reasons this can happen. The most likely reason and most common is that when they froze my heart during surgery part of the nerves that come from the spinal cord and connect to the diaphragm were damaged. Other reasons can be that the diaphragm was injured during surgery or one of the nerves was nicked during surgery. There is really no way except to go through a whole lot of testing and even then it's a maybe to find out WHY it is damaged. If it is because of the damaged nerve from the heart being frozen then maybe in time (he is saying about 1 year) the nerves could heal and my diaphragm could become unparalyzed. To me... THAT IS HOPE!!!
So I continue on with this recovery and pray that a miracle will happen. I am very happy to report that I am not having any Arrhythmias at all. I even had a few cups of coffee for the first time in 3 years. I started driving again last week. I continue to take baby steps in the recovery process but I look back 10 weeks ago and compare it to how I feel today and I see progress.
So I ask once again for prayers that a miracle will happen and my diaphragm will get better. I will have another echo done in October which will hopefully show that my valves are still working properly and the size of my heart has shrunk. The doctors have told me that my heart will never be normal size again due to the amount of time and how much it was enlarged but it will shrink back to a "livable" size eventually.
Thank you again for all of you prayers and well wishes through these last 6 months. I hope to one day run in the March of Dimes again as I have not been able to in about 5 yrs due to health problems. I know I will get there, I guess I just need a little more time (and a diaphragm that works would be nice too
).
