Deidre Harris

 Peripartum Cardiomyopathy Support Network

home

about ppcm

NY PPCM

Study Group

news

support

how to help

contact us

Hi my name is Deidre and I'm 40 years old. I live in Pensacola, Fl. I am a stay at home mom to my 3 daughters Amy 16, Frances 5 and our new little blessing Daisy who is 6 1/2 weeks old. I have a wonderful husband Rob.

I was diagnosed with ppcm just a week after little Daisy was born so I am still in a state of shock about this disease. All the reading and knowledge I have about pregnancy especially being high risk at my age I am surprised at never hearing about this.

Like I said I was home about a week and woke up in the morning and was having some trouble breathing but it wasn't all that bad so I just figured I was tired and went back to sleep for a little bit. When I woke up about a half an hour later I felt much worse and called my huband who was in the back yard. I couldn't take a breath and kept thinking I was going to die. I didn't have a clue what was happening. My mom had c.o.p.d. which is emphesema and she never got that bad even in the last stages of her disease. We called 911 and they took me to the emergency room where they did chest xray cat scan and ekg and determined I had pnuemonia. It was really strange though because besides not being able to breath I felt fine and once they gave me a breathing treatment I felt as good as new. Well they admitted me but when I got to my room and saw the pulmonary Dr my blood oxygen level was at 99 so they discharged me with antibiotics and said to get a lot of rest.

The next evening everything in the house seemed back to normal we were having a sleep over for Frances and were having a great time. I was actually watching a movie and just started feeling like I couldn't sit still and had to get up and walk around a little. Then all of a sudden it happened again and in a matter of 10 minutes I couldn't take a breath and this time it was worse. I tried to get to the car to go to the hospital but collapsed on the steps. The ambulance came and after repeatedly breathing in and out like I had just run 20 mile for about three hours or more they got it under control. A series of pulmonoligists came in and did an echo for blood clots in my legs and one on my heart and sent me up to my room. The next morning the cardiologist came in and told me I had heart failure and flash pulmonary edema and that they could control it with medicine and I put my faith in God and the Dr. that everything would be fine. I was there two days and started feeling a lot better and the Dr said it was starting to look like I could go home. Well that night the nurse came in and gave me my meds and I guess the important pill was crushed up and she said to just take it anyway and I did. Now in retrospect that was pretty naive of me. Well about 11:00 that night I started feeling very strange and told the nurse I was worried the pulmonary edema was happening again and she said oh no it's just anxiety and gave me xanax well over the next hour she must have given me 3 of them even though I was insisting that I couldn't breath and then the sweating started so she got a fan. Not once did she call in a dr. or question that she maybe wrong. Well I finally told her to call my husband and he came to the hospital and by the time he got there he said I was purple and he started screaming for a dr. I was taken to CCU where the used cpac I think it's called well its forced oxygen and I woke up the next day there. I quess the meds were adjusted and I was released two days later and have been feeling a little better everyday except for the exaustion of taking care of the baby. I have a lot of trouble sleeping as is expected with a newborn. I have anxeity about going through that flash pulmonary edema again. I just wish there was some kind of warning so I could tell when it was going to happen again. The dr tried to assure me that it wouldn't but after what happened in the hospital it is still hard for me to believe. I'm thinking about going for some counseling to deal with the anxiety.

I feel blessed to be alive and appreciate every breath I take. I am so happy to have this website because my Dr didn't really explain very much about the disease. It was actually my ob/gyn that wrote down for me what it was called so I could do some research on it and she explained to me what it was that I had. I have an appointment in Nov. with my cardiologist and will find out what my EF was and ask a lot more questions about the condition my heart is in and will update my bio then. Thank you all so much for your support I can honestly say I would be lost without you all!