Recently diagnosed with HF.

[Butterfly65]

Hello all, I'm a 59 years young wife, mother & grandmother.

At the end of August I was admitted to hospital after booking myself in to A&E due to severe breathlessness & oedema.

After being hooked up to a machine, I was told my heart rate was over 180bpm, my blood pressure was high, & that I had HF & AF.

I was in hospital for 11 days, I pestered the staff daily to be discharged after a week before being discharged with 7 prescription meds, I was on no meds prior to this.

I had an echocardiogram whilst in hospital that revealed -

severe tricuspid regurgitation with complete loss of leaflets,

moderate mitral regurgitation but functional.

Severely impaired Left Ventricle

( EF biplane: 23% )

Impaired Right ventricle and dilated in size.

I'm awaiting a rescheduled appointment with cardiologist that will hopefully let me know the results of the MRI scan that I had at Papworth recently.

I'm trying to remain positive but in all honesty I'm not coping very well with the waiting & the uncertainty of it all.

I also live in a rural area with no access to group meetings etc plus I've never been keen on social media sites such as FB.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel very frightened & alone with no idea of what to expect.

[10gingercats]

I have had severe tricuspid regurg. for many years,no leaflets either so they cannot operate.I am now 86 and ,walk daily,pretty fit and active .i have a busy social life,do my own housework and generally try to forget the heart issues .I was told I have heart failure but it is only a name that encompasses a bucketload of heart issues.I take 4 meds including Apixaban for Afib.

[Butterfly65 in reply to 10gingercats]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

[PadThaiNoodles]

I had asymptomatic mitral valve regurgitation and aortic valve regurgitation for the better part of 20 years. They waited until I started to show left ventricle hypertrophy before operating. At the time they knew that my mitral regurgitation had reached severe, but my aortic regurgitation was only moderate/severe. They recommended mitral valve repair via open heart surgery so they could also check on the aortic valve and replace it if need be.

I had it done 6-1/2 weeks ago. The aortic valve turned out to be in really bad shape, so they replaced it with a mechanical valve. I'm recovering well; even got to start driving again earlier in the week.

Given that you are symptomatic and showing LV & RV impairment, I'd guess they're going to want to replace your tricuspid valve sooner rather than later. If they think your mitral valve is likely to progress to severe regurgitation at some point, then they might want to do both at once and have it all done and dusted. If they only do the tricuspid they might want to do that with a less invasive procedure.

I had had long enough to process it that I didn't *feel* that stressed, but I clearly was. The last 2 weeks before the surgery I became increasingly scatter-brained and it became hard to focus on anything. Even reading the paper was a struggle. I don't think there's any way around it. Just keep courage.

[Butterfly65 in reply to PadThaiNoodles]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. The thought of heart surgery absolutely terrifies me.

[PadThaiNoodles in reply to Butterfly65]

If it does come to that, we'll help you get through it. It's a very supportive community here. ❤️

[Ruf56]

I had heart surgery and can understand those feelings, it’s really hard . Just reach out if you need any support