Home From Hospital

It turns out that the asthma and allergies causing my problems, weren't. After 9 hours in the ER, a night in ICU, and another day in the hospital, multiple punctures, pictures, etc., I have been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), which came as a major shock to us.

I had gained nearly 20 pounds in the last 2 weeks and looked and felt like I was in training as a balloon float for the Thanksgiving Day parade. When it got so bad that I felt like my chest was being crushed and I couldn't breathe, the Doc sent me to the ER. After figuring out what was wrong, they administered huge doses of Lasix intravenously and by the next morning I had run off around 25 liters of fluid. Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep that night.

Doc said I had improved much faster than he expected, and attributed part of that to the Bible I was reading when he came into the room this morning. I can breathe so much easier and feel so much better. I expected to come home and start gardening. But.......I can't go out in the hot weather, and I am so weak and tired I can hardly sit here. My daugher, Kat, is coming to stay with me tomorrow morning (we had planned for her to visit next week anyway) and I hope I feel good enough for us to do a few fun things together.

After a Stress Echo test of my heart on Friday, they will have a better idea of what is causing this and how we will treat it. I would love to hear from any of you who live with CHF to see how you handle it. The Doc thinks that it was precipitated by my high altitude camping trip and the extremely hot weather we're having putting too much stress on my heart. Evidently it is more common in people with Diabetes or lung diseases, both of which I have.

My room on the second floor of St. Thomas More Hospital in Canon City had a nice view of Fremont Peak and the Skyline Drive across the ridge of the Hogback on the West side of Canon City. The early settlers here called the skyline of Fremont Peak the Sleeping Indian. If you have a good imagination you can see him lying there at the top of the peak. The Royal Gorge runs through on the south (left side) of Fremont Peak (named for the Pathfinder Fremont who explored through this area after Pike discovered the Gorge.) Skyline Drive is one of our tourist attractions with a narrow one-way road following the ridge and the city straight down the east side and U. S. Highway 50 running through a valley, on the way to the Royal Gorge, straight down the west side.

I could use good thoughts and prayers for an independent old Granny to learn to be less independent and to stop trying to be Wonder Woman. I'm exhausted and need to go to bed for a while.