It is one of the coldest winters on record down here.....and my bones are hurtin. ( At least I have a chance to wear my sweaters and more)

Hi all. I had my pacemaker replaced Jan 26....the incision is healed fine....he glued it together. The only problem is that the underlying internal stitches, the ones that are supposed to dissolve, are coming through the skin in bits and pieces. Of course it causes some inflammation before they come out, and then there is a fine hole that has to heal. This has happened to me with other surgeries. I guess I don't dissolve things well. In this case it is always a cause for concern, because each event leaves an opening that goes to the heart, so all the cleanliness and post op precautions regarding infection need to apply. So far so good. Weird.

normal is between 4-6. I just checked it out.

I thought I would start a new thread since the other one was getting so long. That is great that all your mom's blood work is OK. To answer your question...yes, depression can certainly make you tired. It seems as though she has her night/day cycle reversed.
It is really important that she is made to get up, washed,dressed, and remain up all day long...maybe a short nap at first....that is not an easy task, but you have to do this.....think of the long term benefits, both for you and your mother. In the case of my father in law, I actually took the mattress off the bed so he could not get back in....and what did I discover? he was there, curled up in the fetal position, lying on the box springs! Anyhow, I hope all goes well at the cardiologist appt......keep your chin up, and please keep us posted. Take care ( of yourself too!) Sue

Dogs and cats frequently get cardiomyopathy. I just noticed some of the Google sites at the bottom of the main page. I have looked up their treatment many years ago, and found that it was similar to humans, but the vets included the nutritional supplement of L carnitine and selenium. So that is what I take, along with CoQ10. I know this is contraversial, but hey, I am doing better. My son's cat died of cardiomyopathy many years ago. He was only ill a short time. It was very sad.

I don't know a lot about pulmonary hypertension. I have a vague idea of how it works but not sure if it can be "cured" or controlled or if it's a downward spiral.

My daughter-on-law has lupus. She manages it well. Been through chemo several years ago related to this. The past year has been tough on her, caring for her Mom who is dying of cancer. They (my son and DIL) are paying for her apt., bills and doing general care for her. That's a lot of stress.

Recently DIL has had breathing problems. The docs thought it was stress related asthma. The meds aren't helping. Now she's going in for a cath because they think it might be PH.

Can this be reversed or what?

I know this is way off the topic of heart,but I'm hoping some one could give the words don't worry about it. Today I noticed under the nail's of one my finger's is slowly turning red.I see the same thing happening under my toe nail.Is there any concern.I tried looking up the reason but struck out.

My cardio said the cholesterol med with prevention of kidney failure is ATACAND. When I check that on the website, it said it can cause renal impairment. I'm confused. He wants to save my kidney or he'll donate a kidney for me in the future??? It didn't say control "Cholesterol"?

The letter said I should ideally also be on an ARB. Atacand also belongs to the ARB group. Medicinenet said it is for kidney failure prevention. Most of them said control BP. Today my BP is 116/65. They want it lower than that?

Any one on this med = Atacand?

I think there is recommendation to limit salmon to twice a week, less for pregnant women. Now I am wondering if fresh caught salmon is worse than farm grown. I do know that mercury stays in your body and accumulates. Darn.....it seems like you have to watch everything.

Bacon....I am still in a state of shock.......