Me and Heart Failure

When I was working as an RN I got sick with the flu and had to go home. I stayed out of work for a week -- this was in February of that year. That March I woke up at 5 o'clock that morning and could not breathe.

My coworkers to the rescue

I texted my work and said I had respiratory distress. When our office opened at eight they called me and could tell I was in distress. One of the girls came and took me to our local hospital. They put four liters of oxygen on me before they even got a blood test.

When the doctor came over to my bed he said they thought I was having a heart attack and wanted send me down the road to a bigger hospital. I went down there and stayed three days so they could do a heart catherization. They told me, evidently, when I had the flu it attacked my heart.

Lifestyle changes and medication keep me alive

I have been watching my sodium ever since. I had a defibrillator-pacemaker placed a year ago due to my heart being so enlarged. I have been on Entresto since 2018. I still watch my sodium, but I have to take 60mg of Lasix every day now. I eat a lot of salmon and broccoli. I do eat sweets in limited amounts, and I weigh less than I have in years.

I feel very fortunate that I have lived as long as I have -- 8 years. But the funny thing was I never did like salt and never ate it. Not on eggs, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes. Anything people salted, I didn't. My downfall is a good all-the-way hotdog. I do get me one about every six months, but then I am more strict about my sodium, the day before and the day after.

You can live with congestive heart failure if you are very strict and reward yourself once in a while.

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