Nancy
Well-known member
Just wanted to start this thread because it's such an important subject and so many folks have it in one degree or another.
Joe's had CHF for many years. There are four stages to CHF, Stage I being the least serious, and Stage IV being the most serious.
Joe's been in all stages of this condition. It's something he will always have, and it is something that ebbs and flows, depending on many things.
Last year at this time, he almost lost his life to Stage IV CHF. He was very close to some kind of systemic shutdown, and was starting to slip into a coma. He ended up in kidney failure, severe liver and spleen congestion, ascites, lung congestion, edema in his extremities, severe anemia, severe pulmonary hypertension and his Troponin (heart enzymes) levels were elevated. He could do nothing but sit on the sofa. He couldn't breathe lying down and could hardly walk from one room to another.
I got him to a specialist in CHF and PH, and he spent a month in the hospital, straightening out all of these serious problems. The regimen the cardiologist put him on worked, and this past year has been a huge period of healing for Joe. He is feeling much better now. He still has serious disability from many heart and lung problems, but is now able to do many things that he wasn't able to do before, and the most important thing is that he's alive. Last year at this time, neither of us thought he would survive.
His diet is very strict and he cannot eat sodium at all. It's almost impossible to eliminate all sodium because some things just have it naturally, but I've made a very concerted effort to cook everything from scratch, including bread and other baked goods, I soak any seafood to eliminate sodium as much as possible, and I even soak chicken because that can contain injected sodium. He cannot drink milk because it contains so much sodium. So Joe has made great sacrifices, but the results are worth the effort.
His oxygen levels are normal in room air, and he doesn't need oxygen.
He takes Lasix (and K-Dur) each day, twice a day. He weighs himself each morning w/o clothing before eating, and it's recorded in a book along with his temp. If he gains 3 pounds in a day or 5 pounds in a couple of days, he goes to the next level of diuretics. If that doesn't work sufficiently, we call his cardiologist for further instructions. It's a great balancing act keeping his heart healthy and keeping his kidneys from going into failure from too much diuresis.
It's not something that will ever go away, but it is something that can be controlled, at least for now.
Joe's had CHF for many years. There are four stages to CHF, Stage I being the least serious, and Stage IV being the most serious.
Joe's been in all stages of this condition. It's something he will always have, and it is something that ebbs and flows, depending on many things.
Last year at this time, he almost lost his life to Stage IV CHF. He was very close to some kind of systemic shutdown, and was starting to slip into a coma. He ended up in kidney failure, severe liver and spleen congestion, ascites, lung congestion, edema in his extremities, severe anemia, severe pulmonary hypertension and his Troponin (heart enzymes) levels were elevated. He could do nothing but sit on the sofa. He couldn't breathe lying down and could hardly walk from one room to another.
I got him to a specialist in CHF and PH, and he spent a month in the hospital, straightening out all of these serious problems. The regimen the cardiologist put him on worked, and this past year has been a huge period of healing for Joe. He is feeling much better now. He still has serious disability from many heart and lung problems, but is now able to do many things that he wasn't able to do before, and the most important thing is that he's alive. Last year at this time, neither of us thought he would survive.
His diet is very strict and he cannot eat sodium at all. It's almost impossible to eliminate all sodium because some things just have it naturally, but I've made a very concerted effort to cook everything from scratch, including bread and other baked goods, I soak any seafood to eliminate sodium as much as possible, and I even soak chicken because that can contain injected sodium. He cannot drink milk because it contains so much sodium. So Joe has made great sacrifices, but the results are worth the effort.
His oxygen levels are normal in room air, and he doesn't need oxygen.
He takes Lasix (and K-Dur) each day, twice a day. He weighs himself each morning w/o clothing before eating, and it's recorded in a book along with his temp. If he gains 3 pounds in a day or 5 pounds in a couple of days, he goes to the next level of diuretics. If that doesn't work sufficiently, we call his cardiologist for further instructions. It's a great balancing act keeping his heart healthy and keeping his kidneys from going into failure from too much diuresis.
It's not something that will ever go away, but it is something that can be controlled, at least for now.
