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No, this isn't a romance or relationship post, I mean literal heart.

I haven't talked about it a whole lot, in fact even my parents and closest friends don't know the full details because I don't want them to worry, but there's potentially something wrong with my heart. Over the past several months I've had problems with hands and feet swelling at random times, and put off going to a doctor to see anything about it because at the time I was stuck working overnight shifts at work and I slept during the day during my doctor's office hours. With some other symptoms starting to pile on top of this (general weakness, tightness in chest, shortness of breath) I finally went to the doctor about a month ago, and started getting tested for a bunch of things.

A few days ago I received a heart echo, and though the imaging techs couldn't give me any sort of diagnosis as that isn't their job, they take the images for the cardiologist to interpret, my questions did get them to finally admit that they thought they saw signs of congestive heart failure. I won't get an actual confirmation from my doctor until probably tomorrow.

I called my work and told them I would need a week off, possibly more, as I sort this out, and they were understanding. Over the past month or so it's gotten to a point where I can't do any sort of strenuous activity or even be up and active without getting winded and weak feeling. Every now and then my blood pressure will just suddenly drop and I'll feel like I need to go to sleep, or I'll just nod off. If the results come back that it is congestive heart failure, I worry what that means for the future and what treatments are available, and I worry that if I'm not able to return to work I'll have no money and no insurance. This is the first time I've faced a prolonged medical issue that could actually be fatal, and the first time I've faced one that left me feeling like I can't safely work without passing out.

Like I said earlier, I haven't told anyone else. There's no point until I can get a confirmation and a firm grip on what it all means. My biggest worry is they'll come back and say everything looks fine, because if that's the case wtf is wrong with me? But I wanted to tell someone, sharing makes me feel better, and so you lot get stuck with this.

I also hate sharing bad news about myself and my own need for self depreciation means I feel obligated to point out I'm not looking for a pity party, but thankfully self reflection has gotten me to a point where I almost didn't type this sentence. Almost.


Side note: getting a heart echo fucking hurts. They never show you that in the movies, they just put a wand smack in the middle of someone's chest and everything is fine. No, they jab that sucker hard into your ribs and work it around like they're running trills on a xylophone.

Well, not like I can do much about it from the other side of the world, of course, especially if you close off my standard go-to avenues of bad humor and deliberate misinterpretations to avoid talking about feelings or hard topics. Sheesh. Way to remove coping strategies for your public,, can't you think of the owls?!

I'll help you hope it's something easily-findable-and-treatable rather than something barely or not treatable, or something hard to find and pinpoint. Good luck and lots of strength.

Those are scary symptoms indeed Poe. Take care of yourself. I am sorry that you are going through this.

If I may make a suggestion, tell your family now. Especially parents, siblings, etc. There may be family medical history you don't know about that may help explain. Also, it will help them plan to take time to come see you or help if needed. I know you may not want to cause undue worry, but having them find out later will be worse.

I agree with General Specific, tell your family now. My mother didn’t let us know she was having issues last year and went into the hospital Thanksgiving weekend and we couldn’t tell them she she had been having issues and that delayed them figuring out what was wrong.

(Reads swelling symptoms at beginning) "Hmm sounds like congestive heart failure."
(Reads further) "Oh you already suspect it."
This is what my grandfather died of, or at least what they decided was the largest contributing factor. Get used to diuretics and mandatory exercise. Also possibly a pacemaker. There's more than one potential cause, here's hoping you have one that's more treatable than the others.

Also, and this should go without saying, make sure your affairs are in order, just in case. According to Wikipedia, once symptoms have progressed to the point where it finally pushes people go and get tested, those who are diagnosed/confirmed have a slightly higher than 1-in-3 chance of dying within the first year. And I'm not saying this in an attempt to shock or panic you. Once you make it out of the first year and are actually treating it, the odds very quickly go down, but you should probably spend that week drawing up some definite, no-excuses-allowed plans for your next 12 months.

--Patrick

So got the call from my doctor to tell me what I already suspected. One of the valves of my heart is opening when it should be closed, allowing blood to flow back in. I'm being referred to a cardiology specialist, but that will likely take a week.

How slow this all progresses is honestly the most frustrating part. It takes forever for insurance to approve the visits and then forever more to schedule them. My sick time at work is running out so now I need to find out how to schedule a medical hiatus and, I don't know, I guess find out if I qualify for disability so I can continue to eat?

Sure, the possibility of death sucks and all but it's the paperwork I can't stand

Ravenpoe said:

One of the valves of my heart is opening when it should be closed, allowing blood to flow back in.

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TIL this is called "heart valve regurgitation," which calls up an entirely different image.

--Patrick

I’m so sorry to hear this. I am glad that you have a diagnosis though. My mum had surgery last year to correct an issue that sounds a lot like this and she’s doing awesome. Medicine has come a long way from when she was diagnosed.

This next part may be Canada specific, but I can’t see how this wouldn’t qualify for disability.

I hope you’re seen by the specialist soon.

Squidleybits said:

This next part may be Canada specific, but I can’t see how this wouldn’t qualify for disability.

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Actually, it might indeed.

.

That is a wild set of requirements to satisfy. I’m in shock.

Squidleybits said:

That is a wild set of requirements to satisfy. I’m in shock.

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Yeah, just in case I'm putting together my resume and hopefully I can find a work from home position? I can sit at a computer just fine, it's everything beyond that I can't really do. I don't even know how to find a remote job, I guess I'll find out.

What's your work? I know there's a lot of like IT and call center jobs that are working from home now. I have to place orders with like Coca-cola and when I call it in I'm positive it's a person at their home putting the order in through their system.

phil said:

What's your work? I know there's a lot of like IT and call center jobs that are working from home now. I have to place orders with like Coca-cola and when I call it in I'm positive it's a person at their home putting the order in through their system.

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I manage a grocery store

Me a few months ago learning about these issues: I've got a good bit of money saved up, I've got insurance, I'll be fine.

Me now:


That didn't take long at all...

Ravenpoe said:

Me a few months ago learning about these issues: I've got a good bit of money saved up, I've got insurance, I'll be fine.

Me now:
View attachment 41271

That didn't take long at all...

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I'm pretty sure the only correct way for an American who has a rainy day medical fund stash to go about it once he discovers he's got something serious, is to use that medical emergency money to move to the right part of Europe and get his medical assistance there.

God I love reading Europeans response to an American complaining about healthcare costs to he “oh well in Europe we don’t have that problem.” Always so helpful and not condescending in the slightest.

Bubble181 said:

I'm pretty sure the only correct way for an American who has a rainy day medical fund stash to go about it once he discovers he's got something serious, is to use that medical emergency money to move to the right part of Europe and get his medical assistance there.

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I really should have done that, and then maybe never come back

blotsfan said:

God I love reading Europeans response to an American complaining about healthcare costs to he “oh well in Europe we don’t have that problem.” Always so helpful and not condescending in the slightest.

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I didn't take it as condescending at all, our healthcare system is a scam.

Bubble181 said:

I'm pretty sure the only correct way for an American who has a rainy day medical fund stash to go about it once he discovers he's got something serious, is to use that medical emergency money to move to the right part of Europe and get his medical assistance there.

Click to expand...

From experience I disagree.

I remember somebody on the internet posting a cost comparison for the same procedure on US with insurance vs... I want to say Spain? But I could be wrong.

It figured out that you could emigrate to Europe, get citizenship, get the procedure, then relocate back to the US for less than the out-of-pocket of the same procedure in the US.

blotsfan said:

God I love reading Europeans response to an American complaining about healthcare costs to he “oh well in Europe we don’t have that problem.” Always so helpful and not condescending in the slightest.

Click to expand...

Ravenpoe said:

I really should have done that, and then maybe never come back

Post automatically merged: Apr 19, 2022

I didn't take it as condescending at all, our healthcare system is a scam.

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I didn't mean it condescending at all. Commiseratingly with your absolute scam of a system, sure. Slightly jokingly to hide that I don't know how to respond properly to someone I care about facing hardship, perhaps. Condescending? No.
I also meant it at least partially seriously: while Sparhawk may have a different experience, and of course, there are about a dozen different healthcare systems across Europe, I know several people who really DID do that. My sister in law, for example, moved back to Belgium to give birth because she had had some medical issues beforehand and some rare congenital disease that might cause very serious bleeding during labor. Her costs for the pregnancy, follow up and delivery were expected to go well north of 200K (aforementioned bleeding issues meant she had weekly follow up and imaging checkups with specialists, etc etc).
The parking tickets for my brother were literally the most expensive part of the whole experience in Belgium....Total cost including extra sleeping arrangements for my brother etc was somewhere around €1000. And it'd have been less had she actually been Belgian at the time.

I'd advice against going to the UK though, their healthcare system is also deeply deeply flawed (in interestingly different ways from yours).

I rarely feel like looking down on someone for something they or I don't actually have any say over. It's kind of useless.

Oh, hello $2000 mystery bill from a procedure I thought was already paid for. No, as a matter of fact I can't pay you, just... go sit with the other unpaid bills I guess

So what if I just... Don't pay these bills?

Poe, you're a genius.