After my mom’s month long hospitalization in March, I set up appointments with a renowned Cardiologist and a top Pulmonologist to follow up on the organ failure and ARDS to make sure she is recovering properly.

It has been a difficult few months and extremely stressful because my mom has not been herself.  The recent illness has exacerbated the PTSD she had from undergoing cancer treatment and facing mortality.

She has been having extreme mood swings and lashing out.  On one hand she is glad to be alive but she is also understandably angry and bitter because of her health situation, which with time will improve.

The Cardiologist ran tests and discovered that ejection fraction had declined since she left the hospital by 5-10%.  Normal is 60%.  In the hospital, it dropped to 25% and inproved to 45% by the time she was discharged.

Because of the pneumonia, ards and sepsis, that illness is the ONLY reason they discovered that her heart was was weak and had sustained damage over the years due to diabetes and cholestorol and hypertension.  Her EKGs always showed normal.  The echocardiogram was repeated and the doctor suspected that there was blockage.

They found 90% blockage in the main heart artery (the widow maker). The Cardiologist put a stint in and said she will be fine now.  Those “indigestion” pains she was been having (self diagnosis) turned out to be symptoms of the blockage that would have led to a massive heart attack in the very near future, BUT GOD !

Leaving the hospital

My mom is at home now and is resting comfortably.

Please keep her in your prayers that she heals properly and quickly and that her mental status levels off too.  Depression is not good and nor is PTSD.  It does not help that she is undergoing radiation therapy for the 3rd occurrence of breast cancer.  She had excision surgery on May 15th and the surgeon had to do it under twilight sedation because of risk of putting her to sleep.  She has three more weeks of radiation and then she starts a new medication protocol in lieu of chemotherapy.

What a way to live after retirement ….