I had a heart attack and A fib. Now I want to die

[kitkatz]

I feel for you K&S  it is a hard thing to go through what you are going through.  I also have a heart valve they are keeping an eye on.  I hope the leg things gets figured out soon.  Make your life decisions wisely and do what is right for you.   Lots of caring is being sent your way. 

[Athena]

Oh K&S, how sorry I am to hear what has happened to you. It is heart-breaking. I have admired your advice & wisdom on this site for so long & in a lot of ways, I feel like you're an older version of me. I wish I could help you. I really don't know anything about heart issues, I'm afraid. I just know that when I am in any physical turmoil, I just focus on taking one step in front of the other & make my days as comfortable as I can. A hospice or palliative care, would help you be as comfortable as possible. I've heard that palliative care can also end up extending the life of a patient quite dramatically, so that become a hopeful outcome. I wish you the very best!

[kickingandscreaming]

Thank you.  I appreciate all your good wishes.

[Athena]

How are you going today Kicking&Screaming? I take it you're still in hospital? What is the plan from hereon? I hope you're a bit more settled by now. Wishing you the best.

[kickingandscreaming]

Thank you, Athena.  I am actually in the hospital...again.  Third time in a matter of a week or 2.   I had another A fib incident so I took another ambulance ride.  Since then I've had a nuclear stress test (which came out well) and was started on a new drug that allegedly stops A fib.  It's too early to know if it is working but I'm hopeful.  A fib is quite unpleasant and very serious in that it provokes clots and strokes.  I'm still in the hospital and will, finally, be moved to rehab tomorrow---both to restore my strength and to work on the cellulitis in my legs that makes walking very painful.  They are now calling the cellulitis lymphedema from inadequate dialysis. So dialysis and forced walking (forced because it's so painful) are the interventions.  So that's about it.  Lurking in the background is the more serious issue with my heart is that my mitral valve is leaky and that makes for very poor quality of life and eventual heart failure, but would require open heart surgery which is quite high risk and

[MooseMom]

oh, dearie me, k&s.  So, you now have a diagnosis.  Cellulitis lymphedema; that makes sense considering your situation.

As for your leaky valve, have your doctors specifically advised against open heart surgery to repair it, or have they simply explained the pros and cons and left the decision up to you?

If your current dialysis regimen is now "inadequate", what will happen next?

I'm sorry to hear you are in the hospital again.  It must be frightening and frustrating for you.

[kickingandscreaming]

I'm still in the hosp. Was supposed to move to rehab las friday but here I still am.  Losing strength and conditioning by the minute.  I'm the one who doesn't want open heart surgery.  Not sure I could survive it at my age and certainly don't want to get through months of recovery---living alone.

Meanwhile, my remaining savings are drying up at a frightening clip, and just had a plumbing emergency ($2,000)
and I totalled my car.   No collision insurance and the want to take away my car.  So my life contnues to go from bad to worse.

[Athena]

K&S, since you're elderly & unable to care for yourself at home due to your medical issues, what is the next step towards moving into a suitable aged care facility or home with nursing assistance? Can you ask for a hospital social worker to provide assistance to you at this difficult time? I'd be focussing what energy I had left in appealing for social welfare/nursing/patient complaint management assistance & when the doctor comes around, to beg him/her to make this assistance happen.

When I was going through a hospital medical crisis, everyone assumed I had family assistance ready to jump in (eg hubbie, kids, etc). In truth, I had no one to really help. I had some lovely nurses notice my plight & advocate for me. And there were social workers employed by the hospital to look after patients in distress. Are you receiving this kind of help?

[Charlie B53]

Wife was Denied State Medicaid because we have too many/much combined 'Resources'. Not only savings/investments, but cars, my motorcycle, and boats. The State said we had to be under $10,000 total resources, so I have had to cash out investments and have been making the $5000 monthly Nursing Home expense PLUS almost another $1000 med co-pays for 10 months already.

I thought she may  be eligible in another month but now the Social Servvices Lady is telling me we have to be under $3000.  So it looks like I just may have to give up my Harley and my boat before the State will provide any help.

Once she is gone and I won't even have her SS coming in I won't have enough to keep the house, and no resources left to sell to fall back on.

Our Medical care system costs sucks.

[Michael Murphy]

K&S
My afib was diagnosed while I was having a vtach episode.  I was in the hospital for a week recovering from the 7.5 hour operation to fix the vtach and embed a icd. During this week I was put on a drug amiadarone (not sure about spelling but sounded something like that)..  at the end of the week no afib so I was released the next day.  One year later the drug was stopped.  Now I have purchased a Apple Watch 4 to monitor for afib so far no signs in 2 years.  So most do respond to drug treatment.  Good luck.

[kickingandscreaming]

I was put on amniodarone too.  So far so good, but I didn't have A fib on a regular basis anyway so I really can't tell if it is really working.  I do know that longer term use of the drug destroys tne thyroid and liver so it's really a fool's  bargain.

I agree our medical system-- and the whole social services/government aid ball of wax is very dysfunctional.  i'm sorry, Charlie, that you are being impoverished in order to take care of the one you love.  I guess there are some advantages to being widowed and alone in the world.  Although I wouldn't recommend having to watch your spouse die of Leukemia either

.

[LorinnPKD]

K&S, I am just catching up on this thread & am thinking of you today...

[Michael Murphy]

While on amidarone I had quarterly blood work checking my thyroid and liver function.  Without any rhythm problems my amiodarone was stopped after a year.   I was nervous about reoccurring afib so my wife let me buy $600 Apple Watch 4 which monitors for afib.

[Athena]

Wife was Denied State Medicaid because we have too many/much combined 'Resources'. Not only savings/investments, but cars, my motorcycle, and boats. The State said we had to be under $10,000 total resources, so I have had to cash out investments and have been making the $5000 monthly Nursing Home expense PLUS almost another $1000 med co-pays for 10 months already.

I thought she may  be eligible in another month but now the Social Servvices Lady is telling me we have to be under $3000.  So it looks like I just may have to give up my Harley and my boat before the State will provide any help.

Once she is gone and I won't even have her SS coming in I won't have enough to keep the house, and no resources left to sell to fall back on.

Our Medical care system costs sucks.

Wife was Denied State Medicaid because we have too many/much combined 'Resources'. Not only savings/investments, but cars, my motorcycle, and boats. The State said we had to be under $10,000 total resources, so I have had to cash out investments and have been making the $5000 monthly Nursing Home expense PLUS almost another $1000 med co-pays for 10 months already.

I thought she may  be eligible in another month but now the Social Servvices Lady is telling me we have to be under $3000.  So it looks like I just may have to give up my Harley and my boat before the State will provide any help.

Once she is gone and I won't even have her SS coming in I won't have enough to keep the house, and no resources left to sell to fall back on.

Our Medical care system costs sucks.

Charlie, how does it work?  Is the $10K only assets that you own apart from your home?

It sounds like you may need to question the social security lady's assertion that it's now $3K.

[Athena]

Hello K&S,
Are you still in the hospital or are you home now? I hope your pain & discomfort in the legs is better by now. Please let us know what is happening right now with you? Hoping for the best. 

[kickingandscreaming]

i am in the hospital...again (4th time in last month)  I'm awaiting placement in rehab.  My legs are improving with dialysis but still quite swollen. I'm awaiting placement in rehab wich is very hard to find one that can do PD-- in the whole medical mecca of Boston.  Shocking. i was released by previous hospital to go home with "services"  but didn't get any until 2 days home when nurse appeared.  But I really felt I needed help with daily living but didn' have that (it took me 2 hours to make breakfast of eggs!)  The only way to get rehab at that point was to go band back to ER, be admitted again ask for rehab.  Since it's a weekend, the world stands still.  Meanwhile with 4 hospitalizations and 2 ambulance rides I'm out a lot of $$$$ thr (even with insurance).  So that really scares me, the rate that I'm burning through $$$.

Thanks for asking, Athena.












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