← Return to Heart transplant: recovering but steroids are affecting behavior

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@danab

Hi everyone I am 13 months post Heart transplant here is a little of my history please feel free to ask questions

A little background on me back in 2008 I caught a virus that caused major damage to my Heart. I was rushed to the hospital barely able to breath when lying down. After a couple of days sleeping sitting up I realized the flu I had was not getting better. I went to the er only to discover that fluid had built ip around my lungs and heart making it hard to breath. After massive doses of IV diuretics they were able to dry me out enough to be transferred to a Cardiac Hospital in Chandler Az. There they discovered I was pretty close to death and recommend a pacemaker plus antiarrhythmic drugs. I left for home with an ejection Factor of 5%. I did recoup from that and for a couple of years felt back to normal. My ef did get up to the 45% range and life was pretty normal. I enjoyed hiking and camping working around the house etc. But it did not last forever. In 2011 i received my first shock from the pacemaker and my cardiologist at that time recommend me see an EP Cardiologist. He recommended that I needed an Heart ablation to find the reason for my heart going into a bad arrhythmia. So he did find some bad paths and ablated them. Things were better but after a year i was still having arrhythmias more than he liked so we did a second ablation. That one was very successful. Things were good for a while but my heart got worse so in 2015 i had a bad set of arrhythmias about 8 shocks before they got my heart to settle down. After about a week and trying different combinations of drugs we got it better but still I would probably need my ablations. Well in Nov of 2017 my heart started having many arrhythmias and after a couple more ablations it was time to look at a heart transplant. My EP doctor recommended me to Mayo clinic to get evaluated. Well after getting to Mayo my heart got even worse. It got to the point that only IV drugs could control my arrhythmias. Well about the end of December 2017 i was put on the list for a heart. Then a miracle happen on January 4th the Lord provided a heart. So on 5 Jan 2018 the surgeon came in and let me know that he was going to pick up my new heart. With the Awesome Support om My Wife and caregiver plus the Prayers of my Church , Family and Friends here i am 13 months post transplant with a bright future ahead of me. Im already doing some light Hiking and i'm back on the golf course.

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Replies to "Hi everyone I am 13 months post Heart transplant here is a little of my history..."

What an amazing journey you have been on, truly a miracle! Your story will offer hope and encouragement to so many who are suffering from heart failure. Thank you for sharing with us.

@danab What an incredible story. It can be really frightening to realize that things that seem to start out relatively simply can become so serious. I amazed at how little time you had to wait for a heart transplant. What is the typical amount of time that heart transplant candidates have to wait?
JK