Saw Dr. Baughman

[ibrenJ]

Hi dr. Fett,
I saw Dr. K. Baughman today. He stated that I had PPCm only after baby #2
My EF is definately 20% and sadly I still need an implanted defibillator. The question is they can either do it at BWH or at my cardiologist at Metrowest Medical Center in Framingham. Boston is far away but I guess me and my husband will prefer BWH.
He also decided to continuously increase my Coreg to 6.25mg bid for now with frequent call from the NP to see how I am doing before further increase. The goal is to get me to 25mg bid without lowering my bp too much and hopefully this will help with my EF. He was very happy with how I am feeling and my results on the exercise test with 02 uptake.
Thanks again ,Dr. Fett.
I was hoping to get a better number But I think this is the beginning of hope for me.
Ines
PPCMER since 7/06
Mom to Brenda 4/05
& Jamie 5/06

[JAMESFETT]

Thanks for the report. I think it sounds very positive, and I am confident your numbers will get better as you continue this process. I hope you will be able to move quickly on the recommendation for AICD. Prayers and best wishes,

JDF

[ibrenJ]

Also thanks to all the ladies for their support.
It feels so good to know there are people there who know exactly what I am going through. I will keep you all posted.
Thanks for all your support and prayers
Ines

[jennifer]

Ines,
I am so glad you have hope. I had an ICD implanted 3 mos. ago, and it really wasn't bad. It will give you great peace of mind. Take care and God bless you.

Love,
Jennifer

[heartfulloflove]

Ines, I'm glad to hear you have some hope ahead! You're new in your diagnosis and I'd expect you to see improvement. As someone here once put it, having the ICD is like having an insurance policy in your chest. Well put.

Coreg can be an awesome drug. I'm sending good thoughts and prayers for improvement in your condition! It sounds like you're on the right track.

[SerenaWelsh]

In exactly 2 weeks from today I will have had my ICD for a year. Finally, most days I don't even think about it.

[ibrenJ]

Thanks Ladies, this is so reassuring
Ines

[crys_dawn08]

I'm really new to all this heart stuff, so could someone please tell me exactly what an icd is? & the reason for having one w/ ppcm? Thanks!

[tabs]

I'm really new to all this heart stuff, so could someone please tell me exactly what an icd is? & the reason for having one w/ ppcm? Thanks!

An ICD is an implantable cardiac defibrillator. It is used to "shock" the heart if a potentially fatal rhythm occurs. It is not a specific therapy used for PPCM, but rather for heart failure in general. The rules for implanting one of these is an extremely low EF and/or potentially fatal rhythm problems. I had one implanted after I suffered a V-Fib cardiac arrest in hospital. My EF at the time was between 7-13% and the docs really did not know if I would get any better. So they implanted the ICD in case I developed V-Fib again and also put me on medication to prevent it from happening. I still have the ICD (on number 3) over 6 years later, but was taken off the specific med.

Twilah

[crys_dawn08]

Oh okay! Thanks!