Felicia Cortez

 Peripartum Cardiomyopathy Support Network

home

about ppcm

NY PPCM

Study Group

news

support

how to help

contact us

My name is Felicia Cortez and I am 21 years old. My husband and I got pregnant in CA. We started my OB care there. During the course of my pregnancy, my blood pressure steadily rose; prior to pregnancy it was always normal on the low side. I began having palpitations, and tachycardia around 6 months. The nurse for my OB said she was sure I was fine and dismissed my symptoms. My husband and I moved to Texas when I was 7 months along and I got a new OB. I was gaining a lot of water weight and had pitting edema. Other than that, things were great!  My OB scheduled my induction for July 14, 2005.

We went to the hospital, and was I progressing nicely. I got my epidural and then was stuck at 5-6 for hours. The baby’s head started to mold so I was taken in for a cesarean section. That is when I became short of breath, perhaps because I was laying flat. Elisebeth Danielle Cortez was born at 5:51 on July 14, 2005. When I was taken back to my room the lvn noticed my oxygen was at 93%. Even when she put my on 100% oxygen my stats were still only reading around 95%. The next morning I began coughing up pink frothy sputum. My new nurse said it was normal. I told her I was having trouble breathing, she said it was because I had just had surgery and I was in pain, I wasn’t breathing deeply. I dismissed it. That evening when shift change came the new nurse said I needed to get up and walk, and it was my fault I was feeling like this because I hadn’t been walking. My mother in law and husband who both have a medical back round were very concerned. They thought I had a pulmonary embolism and that this nurse was going to kill me. After my walk I politely asked for a different nurse. The shortness of breath got worse and I started coughing up more sputum as time went by. That night they sent a pulmonologist up to give me a breathing treatment. They also ordered a chest x ray that a doctor later told me was NEVER read. After the breathing treatment I felt a little better, but my sputum and shortness of breath returned quickly. The next day I had a nurse who seemed concerned. She ran a lot of blood tests, and gave me lasix. I immediately began taking off water weight, but in the process my potassium dropped to 1.8. That night I was breast feeding my daughter when the nurse that was in charge came into my room, told me how low my potassium was and it should have been no lower than 3.0. I had to give my 2-day-old daughter to my husband, as they pushed me down to the ICU. When I got to the ICU, the nurse there said I was going to be ok and I just needed some potassium.  So my husband came down from the labor and delivery floor to be with me for a while. The nurse gave me some morphine and told me to go to sleep. Tim went up to be with the baby, and then the nurse came in and gave me more morphine. I started coughing up so much sputum I couldn’t catch my breath. I told the nurse I wanted my husband NOW! Tim came down immediately and then I started climbing the walls. I was suffocating. Nurses were there telling me to calm down (they thought I was having a panic attack). One put a rebreather on me, I pulled it off and threw it. Everyone was saying did you call the doctor? What about you, did you call the doctor? They kicked my husband out of the room and I took one last look at him and passed out. I was then heavily sedated, intibated and put on life support. That night they gave me a swan ganz. The following day I remember waking up as the doctor called all my in laws in to my room and told them my ejection fraction was at 35%.  They did not know what I had, but thought it may be postpartum cardiomyopathy, but if it was it could not be diagnosed until six months postpartum. That night my husband lost it and left the room. I was left to lay there with my eyes closed while people contemplated my fate. After everyone but my mother in law had left the room a nurse who was in there said well at least your son wont be single for long. My mother in law said his wife is right there and she isn’t going anywhere. I wanted to just cry.  The next day I woke up from my sedation again to realize I was strapped to the bed. The pulmonologist said I could be taken off the ventilator if I showed that I could over ride the machine. So for three or four hours I concentrated on beating the ventilator. Then he came back and I was taken off! All I wanted was water, and convinced everyone who came to see me to give me some. Later that day I began to cough up the sputum again, and I was so scared. They put me on 100% oxygen again and told me if I couldn’t breathe I would have to be intibated again. So I did all that I could to not loose control. My family from CA drove 24 hours straight to be with me. My little sister walked in and saw me, and ran out crying. I didn’t know what to say so I wrote thanks for coming. Tim stayed with me that night in the ICU because they had apparently sent him and Ellie home the day prior. I couldn’t stand knowing I was helpless, I just prayed to the Lord. If he was going to take me, please just do it so I wouldn’t have to put my husband and family through this. After that I continually improved. Three days later I was moved to the Labor and Delivery ward. I finally got to see my baby again. I wasn’t happy being on that floor with all the nurses who had told me I was fine, and ignored all of my symptoms. However I was with my husband and daughter again and that is what mattered. So the next day, nine days after being admitted into the hospital for my induction, I was discharged from the hospital.

It has since been almost one year. After 3 cardiologists, I finally found one I like and who is knowledgeable in postpartum cardiomyopathy. My current ef is 50%, and I finally feel like I am myself again. My perspective on life in many ways has changed, now I look at each and everyday as a new start and a blessing.