Home Again

I am home once again. On Tuesday I must call the heart doctor at Univ. of Penn. to get a quick appointment. Then I must go there with my records (including DVDS showing the procedures I had done) and he will render his opinion. This is doctor is an expert in this field. I have a valve that was infected in the Fall of 2009 and it's damaged and now the pressure in it is high. The fluid was a result of that and the fluid pushed that up higher and higher until the three litres in total were removed. Now the pressure is lower but the problem must be fixed so that I don't end up in the same predicament again. I won't go into all the details here, there are other things as well to deal with.

They believe if they can find and treat the reason for the pulmonary hypertension it will stop. If not, I will have to deal with the same issues over and over again and I will never be free from oxygen.

I am currently breathing much better....I only need oxygen when I am excerting myself. Today I have been able to do some light cleaning, even bending over and been alright. To go to a neighbor's I did need the portable unit but was able to breathe well with it, unlike before where even with the oxygen I had real problems. I am in a much better place right now than I have been. All my hope is that the doctor I meet there will know what the best course is for this. I might need a cardiac catherization to determine whether or not a surgery is needed. He may decide not to do that since my mechanical valve but pose a problem in doing that. I will keep you posted. I have been here before, faced with what might be a large surgery that I really didn't want but knew I had to have. I got through it once and if necessary, I plan to get through it again. I'm a tough old broad. lol