The doctor's appointment
@ 12:30 Thursday lasted until after 5p.m. They adjusted his ICD and upon
hearing his concerns and problems over the past few days, they sent him for
blood work, chest x-ray, and echo. When they did the echo, they saw one of his
narrow places was narrower. Then they saw how weak his heart was. They said the
muscle is becoming hard because it has been overworked for so long. So when the
heart squeezes in to push blood out it is not doing a good job. Now when the
heart is supposed to be relaxing to take in blood, it is not doing it because
it has lost a lot of its elasticity and has become rigid. The doctor stated
that he would have to stay on his current medications because the benefits
outweigh the side effects. The doctor also talked to us about making some hard
choices sooner rather than later concerning surgery. At this time they believe
that out of three options that Jim could only survive one. That would be heart
transplant. The risks are numerous and the doctor stated that you have to take
a "boat load" of medicine. He is not on the list as of right now and
only time will tell when this will take place. The doctor thinks Jim can make
it a little while longer but also reminded us that he cannot predict what will
happen. The risk of something sudden happening has decreased thanks to the ICD
but there still is a possibility of that.
