I thought this would be interesting to those following Portnahapp1e's story of endocarditis

[Buffafly]

bhf.org.uk/heart-matters-ma...

Essential info for anyone likely to be affected really. No scary pictures so you are safe to look!

[P0rtnahapp1e]

Thanks Buffafly , that was interesting reading. I have to say that my usually buoyant sense of humour was momentarily lost on the morning that the formerly optimistic doctor used the phrase "potentially fatal". My hitherto unresolved bowel problem, caused by the blandness of the food, was immediately solved without use of laxatives 😂.

It certainly put things in perspective. Yesterday the senior consultant told me that my heart function has improved considerably and that the condition of the leak in my mitral valve has gone down to mild/medium, so overall my cardiac health has improved during this exercise. Wouldn't recommend it as cardiac treatment however!

[Buffafly in reply to P0rtnahapp1e]

Thank goodness for some good news! Seems diagnosis is rather a matter of luck or the patient's vigilance which is why I posted it, many here have valve problems/artificial valves and there have been questions about dentistry. I think older people especially are reluctant to challenge a doctor on diagnosis, I certainly would have saved myself a lot of trouble and a potentially fatal complication if I had stood my ground over my bowel pains.

I am sure you will continue to improve with what seems to be the good care you are getting. I look forward to your description of your husband's choice of homecoming outfit 😀

[P0rtnahapp1e in reply to Buffafly]

Buffafly , actually I was just musing that I had been to the dentist a few days before I was admitted here, but took an irrational fear while in the waiting room that my dentist, being new, might not understand that I couldn't have adrenaline in my injections. Ridiculous, since I haven't had them for 35 years and it's clearly written in my notes.

In the surgery I explained about my heart failure and AF, and he suggested that I have a few appointments of 20 mins duration each to mend two cracked teeth.

By the time My appointment was due I was in hospital and had been lucky enough to have a very fast diagnosis of sepsis, with the explanation that it had entered my bloodstream through one of the cracked teeth.

[Buffafly in reply to P0rtnahapp1e]

Wow, a lesson to us all. I have a terrible fear of dentistry after bad experiences​ stretching back to early childhood but my latest dentist managed to carry out root canal treatment without my having a meltdown. I am certainly going to be quicker to complain about problems in future even if it has the 'natural' laxative effect......