So this last Thursday I went into my internal medicine doctor and received an almost 100% clean bill of health. Phew! To catch everybody up as to why I would be visiting an internist and would be so relieved to be healthy...I had a summer blessed with Congestive Heart Failure caused by Pericarditis. What?!? Let me explain to the best of my ability. About 2 weeks into our summer vacation I started retaining water. At first I thought nothing of it but after almost a week of gaining large amounts of weight every day and feeling very fatigued along with my heart pounding very slowly but out of my chest whenever I would lay down I started to think something was wrong.
Finally on Father's Day Sunday and just 5 days before we were supposed to leave for Disneyland I asked sweet Brandon to give me a blessing and then decided that I would call my O.B. in the morning. Well Monday morning started out with me having the worst headache of my life and literally not being able to leave the toilet due to vomiting non-stop. So I called my O.B. and he said to head into the E.R... I called my sis Christina to drive me there so she could get me there safely and also hold my little Gabers for me. After several hours and many tests including a chest x-ray and a cat scan, they determined that my lungs were full of fluid and fluid was all around my heart consistent with Congestive Heart Failure and that they were going to admit me immediately into the hospital. They rushed me up to my room where I would spend the next 2 days, terrified and promptly did an Echo on my heart.The Echo showed fluid around and throughout my heart, an enlarged right atrium and hypertension. Yikes! Of course as a mother, my main concern was whether I was going to be able to take the kids to D-land or not. Well 2 days later they released me after stabilizing me but not knowing really what was going and the reason my body was essentially shutting down.
So I went to a fabulous Internal Medicine doc and she within 5 minutes diagnosed me with Pericarditis caused by a virus I had had 3 weeks prior. She said my body was too weak to fight off the virus and so it attacked my heart, which made sense to me because ever since having my sweet baby boy I had been sick with one thing after another. Add that to no sleep due to having a new born baby and having to run around all day with 3 other older kids and...there you have it. After a summer of trying to recover which seemed to be slow-going I'm finally healthy. The Echo I had 2 weeks ago showed all fluid off of my heart, my weight was good and my iron levels are back up to normal. Now I just need to get a chest x-ray this week to make sure the fluid is out of my lungs and I will officially be able to say I've recovered from one of the scariest things in my life 1oo%. Wahoo!!!
Aren't my in-laws cute...still so in love with eachother. They are such a great example to me and Brandon of what a marriage is all about.
Look at this cute couple. They should be in a magazine.
