Lhcm

[medtronic of borg]

Several of you have asked me what LHCM is. Left Hypertrophic Cardiomyopothy. In simple terms the musle of my heart is getting thicker and weaker as time goes on. The cells themselves normally run along side one another. Like lacing your finger tips together. But in this case the cells turn and no longer slide past one another in contraction. With enough time we die. Last stats I read said 76% of all heart transplants are due to this. As a last effort to save our lives. At any one time 3500-4000 patients await a new heart. 25% die before recieving one. Of those that do get a new one 50% see 3 years. 25% see 5 years and after that your chances of surving is greatly increased. Some have lived another 20 years. One of many things unique to my case is my age...I am 39...they are telling me I'll be doing good to see 50. But then agin they told my parents I wouldn't see five, then 13, then they shut up for awhile. I'm aiming for 60. I've beatten the odds before! Anyway I hope that clarifies thiings for some of you. I didn't mean to confuse anyone.

 

[mamsram]

cardiomyopathy

So, let me clear this up in my mind.-- as the heart works harder the muscle wall thickens, resulting in less room for blood volume. so an enlarged heart is actually a thickened wall of muscle. also, this thickened wall loses elasticity causing the heart to work harder. If less room and loss of elasticity causes the heart to work harder, which causes the wall to thicken more, then this sounds like an avenue of self-defeat (its a losing battle) Is this right??

 

[mamsram]

oh yeah

39 is way too young, try to get to the average life-span for the year you were born. If you make it---YOU WON!