Karen Valentini

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My name is Karen Valentini. I am a 33 year old mother of 1. Here is my bio:

I gave birth to a beautiful boy named Brennan on May 26/04 via c-section at 37 weeks and 1 day. Throughout my pregnancy I was very healthy. At around the 6-7 month mark I started to retain fluid. My legs were especially swollen. My blood pressure was normal, 120/70, and there were no traces of protein in my urine therefore my OB found no reason for alarm. At 36 weeks my blood pressure shot up, 158/96 and my OB decided after doing a non stress test that he was going to admit me in the hospital so that they could regulate my BP, and at 37 weeks I was going to be induced.

During my 5 days in hospital pre-induction they put me on labetelol to control my blood pressure. On the eve of 37 weeks the OB inserted a balloon catheter into my cervix, and the following morning they hooked me up to the oxytocin drip. The insertion of the balloon was very difficult because my cervix was very far back and high, and they had a hard time reaching it.(They say it is because I am 6 feet tall and everything on my body seems to be extra long!) During the day while on oxytocin I hadn't had a single contraction. They had attempted to break my water 4 seperate times that day but couldn't reach my cervix. After about 8 hours on the IV, they stopped it, and decided to insert another type of cervix softening device, and attempt again the following morning with the oxytocin. After another day of being pumped full of oxytocin and not getting into labor, and many more attempts at breaking my water, they decided at 6pm to do a c-section.

The day following my delivery, I felt good. I was up walking, I wasn't
taking anything for pain, I felt pretty darn good. The following morning, 2 days post delivery I broke out with a fever. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Immediately they thought I had developed some sort of infection, and started me on four different types of antibiotics. They then sent me for lung scans and ultrasounds on my pelvis and legs to make sure that I hadn't developed a clot. They also started to inject me with heparin in my stomach as a precaution. Everything came back clear except my chest xray showed that I had developed some fluid buildup around my lungs. They started giving me lasix, because my body was more swollen than it was pre-delivery, (which I was told was normal after being confined to bed for a week and pumped full of labor inducing drugs.) I was told that they thought that I had developed a blood infection and that they were going to call in an internal medicine specialist to see if he could figure out where it was coming from. They also started to limit my fluid intake. I was also told that I had to be 48 hours fever free before they would let me go home. My fever started on Friday May 28th, and finally broke on Sunday May 30th, the day the internal medicine spec. came in to see me. He ordered an echo for Monday May 31st. I had my echo, and remained fever free, and finally on Tuesday June 1st, after being cleared by my OB, and the internal med. spec. I was allowed to go home. They sent me home with a 10 day supply of antibiotics, and was told to continue my labetelol until my follow up with my OB 3 weeks from my release.

Nobody had mentioned anything about my echo results, so I had assumed that everything had come back normal, and that I must have just developed some sort of infection that had cleared itself up. When I saw my OB 3 weeks after for a blood pressure check, I felt fine, and my blood pressure was back to normal, so he took me off of the labetelol. When I asked him if they ever got to the bottom of what exactly made me sick, he said that the echo showed that my left ventricle was pumping at 35%. I immediately had a scared look on my face and he said not to worry that 50-60% was the norm, and that he was going to send me to see a cardiologist just to make sure that everything had returned to normal. He did not seem concerned. Now, I live in Canada, and getting in to see a specialist can take months, unless you are on your death bed, so I went to see my family Dr. and asked if we would send me for an echo to make sure everything was OK. I went for an echo the second week of July, and the results came back that my EF was 55% and that was normal. Not once had anyone ever mentioned the word cardiomyopathy. I felt relieved after the echo results, and went on to finally enjoy my life as a 1st time Mom.

At the end of July, I received a call from the cardiologist's office, and
I went to see him. I totally thought that it was a waste of time, seeing as I felt fine, and my echo came back normal. It was then that I first heard the word cardiomyopathy. The cardiologist had really put alot of fear in me about if I ever got pregnant again... In so many words he basically said not to. He also told me that by the way things looked, you would never even be able to tell that anything was wrong with my heart to begin with. He considered me healed, but said he was going to do a follow up echo just to make sure things stay that way. I left his office very scared, as I am sure you could imagine. Here I was thinking everything was fine and 8 weeks after having my child, and feeling healthy, they tell me what was the matter with me. I was beside myself. The thought that I couldn't have any more children was the most frightful. When I returned home I immediately called my OB's office because I was a basket case, and I had a thousand unanswered questions. He brought me in the following day and basically calmed all my fears saying that if he hadn't pumped me full of fluids for 2 straight days, and had me confined to bed after I was already retaining so much fluid, that he didn't think all the fluid would have built up around my lungs. He basically said it was like the chicken and the egg theory. (Is it the fluid that made the heart not pump efficiently, or was it the heart that made the fluid buildup.) He also said that if they did echo's on all women that retained alot of fluid, he believes that it would show some sort of slow down in the EF. He also told me that he felt completely safe in telling me to go ahead and get pregnant again when I was ready. I trust my OB, I really feel that he knows what he is talking about, but after getting on the internet and doing some investigating on all these websites, I have become skeptical.

I have since had another echo, and it shows an EF of 55%. I don't see the cardiologist again until February. In the meantime, I have gone to the states to Hutzel Hospital in Detroit, MI to see a high risk OB. She has treated alot of cases of PPCM. She told me my odds of getting PPCM in a subsequent pregnancy was 10-12%. She told me that if I get it again that my chances of death were 50%. She said she really doesn't understand why someone who has been diagnosed as having this would take the chance of getting pregnant again. I left there quite upset and discouraged. I then went to see a Maternal Fetal Specialist at one of our hospitals, and he basically told me the opposite. He said he believes that because I am fully recovered, that my chances aren't any higher than anyone else of developing it again. He told me that he believes the Dr. in the states to be misinformed with her statistics. I then asked him if I were his wife or sister would he want me to get pregnant again... he said absolutely.

My husband and I are pretty sure that we are going to attempt another pregnancy, but I can't say that I don't have my reservations and fears about the whole situation. I just want to say that finding this website and realizing how much more common this disease really is, has helped me deal with all of it. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have recovered so quickly and I am very grateful to have such a beautiful son. We will see what the future brings