Met my new cardio!

[michelles_mom]

And it went GREAT!!! I had previously googled him trying to find out a little about him and found out that he trained at John Hopkins...well it turns out that the person he trained under was a PPCM specialist!!! So he knows a lot about PPCM and he's totally on board with me getting pregnant again! So starting today we are officially weening me off the Ace-I and BB (thought it seems like I might be staying on a minimal level of statins b/c of my cholesterol issues---but I need to research that a little further), I see him again in 6 weeks and he's going to do an echo and bloodwork to see how my body is reacting to the decrease of meds. But he feels very confident about my case, he said that I've proved I'm tough enought for pregnancy by recovering so quickly from my CHF and that the fact that I'm hiking, biking, spinning, and playing raquetball a year after it happened just proves how well I'm doing and that he's still doing a stress echo before he gives me the all clear just to see what to look for but that he expects me to have a beautiful healthy baby in a year and a half or so :D.
There seems to be a serious lack of high risk OBs in the Las Cruces area and the Cardio says that I should do well with a regular OB as long as we keep very close eyes on my progress. He says that if we see any signs of reoccurance that I might have to go to Albuquerque (sp?)--about 3.5 hrs from here) to see a high risk OB but that he doesn't see us needing that. He says that we are going to have a "pregnancy plan" and "delivery plan" so that nothing goes undetected. (Thoughts Dr. Fett?)
I was sooo relieved and so happy to hear him quote all the research I've done and know that he's totally up to date on the research of my condition. Esp after the last cardio that hadn't even heard of PPCM! Hope has definitely reignited in me and I'm so grateful!


On a side note....I conquered a personal goal this past weekend, I went on a 4.5 mi hike up a mountain by my house!! Once we got to about 5500 ft above sea level we were all breathing a little harder but I made it!! I was so proud of myself! I also found out that my knee is not completely healed from the raquetball incident b/c it started hurting about 3 miles in :( but I'll keep working on it :)

Thanks for reading!
Martha

[JAMESFETT]

Sounds good. I communicate regularly with Ed Kasper, cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, and he is very knowledgeable about PPCM. Ken Baughman used to be there before he went to Brigham & Womens' at Boston. You're into a good process.

JD

[michelles_mom]

Thanks Dr. Fett! I feel even better about it with your reassurance :)

Martha

[AimeeKY]

Congrats on finding a new cardio and helping you through this to have a baby! Now this is only my opinion (LOL) but I will say from the treatment I have been receiving (not clear if I had PPCM after my 2yr old or not but was diagnosed with pregnancy associated CM in January (I was 5 months preggo at the time) it is my cardios who have things together and the high risk obs have very old data and really are looking to the cardios to drive things. I am not a dr but given your new cardio has a lot of knowledge of PPCM, I am sure you will be fine with a regular ob who is comfortable dealing with this- mine weren't but I think it is because there is such a lack of understanding of this issues among the obs, at least in my area.
Good luck to you and can't wait to hear how you do on the lower meds!

[michelles_mom]

Aimee,
I totally understand where your coming from b/c the same stuff went through my and my hubby's heads but considering the nearest high risk OB is 3.5 hrs away we don't have much of a choice, so we are planning on giving our new OB all the information that I have gathered and the new cardio seems to be very willing to check up on me as much as will make me comfortable so we think that with close monitoring and a proactive plan we should be fine. If all else fails, my hubby's in the Air Force and is in an excellent unit that has already told us that if he needs time off when we get pg to fly me to a specialist that they will do everything possible to help and there is an AF base in Albuquerque were we can stay so if I need to go to a high risk OB I'll be all set :) Hopefully I won't have to but if I do we will be prepared for it.

Martha

[AimeeKY]

Martha that is great! I hope you don't have to do that either! :)
Maybe your new cardio can recommend an ob for you to work with so you will be even more ahead of the game!

[Tracy74]

Hi Martha

Reading your thread has really made me smile, as it's great to hear such positive feedback and I feel really pleased for you. Hearing about such knowledgeable and supportive DRs like that is just great. Your fitness levels seem to be in top shape and that must boost your confidence a lot too. I am getting back into exercise more and going for small jogs and swimming. I still get nervous a bit and wondered if you did when you first started getting back into exercise. I am doing a cardiac rehab programme at the hospital too.

Lots of luck in ttrying for your next beautiful baby.

Tracy xx

[michelles_mom]

Martha that is great! I hope you don't have to do that either! :)
Maybe your new cardio can recommend an ob for you to work with so you will be even more ahead of the game!


He told me that he is going to talk to the other cardiologist to see if they had an OB that has shown sensibility when it comes to cardiac patients which made me feel extra comfortable b/c even though he has experience with PPCM and is up to date on his research he hasn't had a PPCM patient in this town so he wanted to make sure that he got all the info possible which I am very grateful for b/c I've had overconfident Drs before and it hasn't worked out very well, I'd much rather have the Dr that is on an never-ending quest for knowledge :)

Martha

[michelles_mom]

Hi Martha

Reading your thread has really made me smile, as it's great to hear such positive feedback and I feel really pleased for you. Hearing about such knowledgeable and supportive DRs like that is just great. Your fitness levels seem to be in top shape and that must boost your confidence a lot too. I am getting back into exercise more and going for small jogs and swimming. I still get nervous a bit and wondered if you did when you first started getting back into exercise. I am doing a cardiac rehab programme at the hospital too.

Lots of luck in ttrying for your next beautiful baby.

Tracy xx


I STILL get nervous!! LOL The last hike we did we went up a mountain, and I live in high altitude to begin with, then we went up 2000 more feet and I was having trouble breathing easily and started to freak out a little bit then I did a mental check and realized that everyone I was with was slowing down and breathing heavy and it donned on me that the altitude affects us all--it was a huge relief but still made me paranoid :). On top of that, I work out with a heart monitor so I can keep track of my heart rate. So yes I'm still nervous but I don't let that feeling stop me from working out b/c I have goals to reach ;D.
Good luck on your track to recovery!
Martha