Annual Review with Cardiac Echo & Consultant

[woodbon]

About a week ago I had my review. Last year was good but this year is better. My ejection fraction (63%) and heart function is now normal although their is persistent effect to the mid and apical septum, I still have some leaky valves, but nothing out of the ordinary for most people my age (63) . He is confident that I do not need to have a review for 5 years, unless I have new symptoms and he has taken me off the Spironolactine, but not the asprin, ramipril and bisporosol. I am really pleased and once the weather is cooler, I am going to start walking further and getting fitter, if poss!! I admit to being a little worried about not having an echo for 5 years, when he thinks I might need a new valve! He has told me what to look out for and written to my GP but I admit to feeling slightly nervous, as 5 yrs seems a long time if something is wrong and I haven't noticed. As it did when I was first diagnosed, but feel thankful to be so much better. XXX

[Sueithy]

Nice to hear you are feeling well. What was your ejection fraction at the beginning of your journey mine is under 3o% I have LV dilated cardiomyopathy.

[woodbon]

Hi my ejection fraction 3 years ago, when I first started out was 40%. I found the report for last years review, when I was looking for something else, and last year it had improved to 55%, so it's taken a while to get here! I also had moderate left ventricular function, but the is normal now, even though a small area is slightly damaged from the MI which started this off, but working within the normal range now. I hope this helps you. For me, it was finding the levels I can do things without feeling too tired, working with that level and find I slowly could do a little more sometimes, but resting when tired and not pushing myself too much. I hope you find a way of improving your levels. We are all different and have different ways of coping. I found it very hard to stop and was always tempted to do too much, but learnt that only made me worse!

Sue.