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Diagnosed with HOCM last year. May be time for surgery
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) | Last Active: Feb 28, 2017 | Replies (47)Comment receiving replies
Hi Barbara - When you meet with the doctors next week, make sure you ask them the following:
-what is your outflow tract gradient ? this is the number - in millimeters of mecury or MM/hg) that shows how much your blood flow is obstructed.
-How many myectomies do they do a year?
-How many HCM patients do they see total?
As I said before, it is critical to be treated by a place that sees and has operated on MANY HCM and myectomy patients. This operation, more than many, is so highly dependent on the skill of the surgeon. That is why it is so important to see an experienced surgeon. Some people decide to have the surgery with a local surgeon, only to find out months later that their symptoms have returned because the surgeon did not remove enough muscle. This is not an operation that you want to go through more than once if you don't have to. Best to have it done the right way the first time!
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Hi, sorry it's been awhile since I talked on here, didn't know I had some more responses... I think I know what you might be talking about, the last time I had an MRI it showed something the dr said was 78 % not sure what that meant but that may be it? That's kind of been on my mind since then, wonder if that's bad or not. The year before it was 64%. so don't know, but I will ask the DR. when I see him on the 25th. Things here have been pretty crazy. A lot of up's and downs. My emotions have been crazy. Was supposed to go to my sisters bridal shower today but I couldn't sleep at all last night, maybe 4 hrs and the drive is almost 2 hours long, I have such a hard time sleeping, if I cant sleep my heart feels so much worse, but when I do sleep well it feels better. been crying all day I feel so alone. I have a huge family but I feel like nobody cares. Probably just being stupid and sorry for myself. It dose'nt help that I am alone out in the country. ty so much for the information and I will ask the DR about all that. 🙂 ps went for a walk around the field today, slow going but it seemed to help.