I'm so thankful to tell my PPCM story on my friend Amanda's blog today. When I originally wrote my my journey for this blog, I kept it simple and stuck with the facts of what was happening to me. I'm honored to be able to rewrite my story, and most importantly, educate others about this pregnancy-induced form of congestive heart failure.
In other exciting news, Audrey's nursery was featured on Baby Lifestyles earlier this month.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
PPCM breaking news!
A new study was done about PPCM and the findings are huge!
Here's the basics:
- PPCM is now confirmed to be a vascular disease (not enough blood vessels are produced for both mom and baby at the end of pregnancy, which puts too much stress on the heart)
- PPCM is more common in women with preeclampsia
- PPCM is more common with multiples
- PPCM is a 2-trigger step disease (the blood vessel issue is the first trigger, the second trigger is still a mystery).
I know this might not sound like a lot, but it is. Finding any sort of link between women with preeclampsia and PPCM is major. This means whenever a woman diagnosed with preeclampsia complains about not getting enough air or some other congestive heart failure symptom, doctors will actually consider PPCM as a possibility.
I wish I was given this consideration when I went to the ER the first time. Things could have been different.
And on that note...a health update.
I had my 3 month echo and it didn't go so great. My cardiologist wants me to get a pacemaker. I'm in the process of getting 2nd and 3rd opinions. My first appointment is next week.
I joined a PPCM support group on Facebook last month, and they have been both supportive and educational. They were all pretty concerned with the fast pace my doctor wants to go, because the "p" word typically doesn't come up until 10-12 months...since I am improving (it's just going at a snail pace).
If both doctors tell me a pacemaker is the way to go...then I will. The thought of a pacemaker used to really scare me, but the thought of death is even scarier – so a pacemaker doesn't sound too tragic anymore.
Here's the basics:
- PPCM is now confirmed to be a vascular disease (not enough blood vessels are produced for both mom and baby at the end of pregnancy, which puts too much stress on the heart)
- PPCM is more common in women with preeclampsia
- PPCM is more common with multiples
- PPCM is a 2-trigger step disease (the blood vessel issue is the first trigger, the second trigger is still a mystery).
I know this might not sound like a lot, but it is. Finding any sort of link between women with preeclampsia and PPCM is major. This means whenever a woman diagnosed with preeclampsia complains about not getting enough air or some other congestive heart failure symptom, doctors will actually consider PPCM as a possibility.
I wish I was given this consideration when I went to the ER the first time. Things could have been different.
And on that note...a health update.
I had my 3 month echo and it didn't go so great. My cardiologist wants me to get a pacemaker. I'm in the process of getting 2nd and 3rd opinions. My first appointment is next week.
I joined a PPCM support group on Facebook last month, and they have been both supportive and educational. They were all pretty concerned with the fast pace my doctor wants to go, because the "p" word typically doesn't come up until 10-12 months...since I am improving (it's just going at a snail pace).
If both doctors tell me a pacemaker is the way to go...then I will. The thought of a pacemaker used to really scare me, but the thought of death is even scarier – so a pacemaker doesn't sound too tragic anymore.
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