Hello to All!
I haven't been contributing much to the board lately, but would like to start. Lisa asked me to help out as one of the moderators, so I will try to check in every day or so.
I know many of you out there (from the HCMA meetings and phone conversations), but for those of you that don't know me, here's some of my hcm history.
I was diagnosed in 1989 at age 22. In 1995 I had a pacemaker put in (when that was the 'new' treatment). My gradient had been in the 60's for many years and I started having some near syncope episodes in 1999. My gradient at that time was around 100mm Hg. So, I had a radio frequency ablation (supposedly to help with the obstruction) in 1999 that ablated my AV node and left me pacemaker dependent. After that I became very symptomatic. I started doing my own research and found the HCMA at this time. I saw Dr. Lever at the Cleveland Clinic in November of 1999 and had a myectomy that same month. He was also doing alcohol ablations at the time, but he didn't think that was the best option for me. Life has been great ever since. At the end of January I had to have my pacemaker replaced. I decided to have an ICD/pacemaker combo put in (which meant replacing the ventricular leads). I went to CCF again and Dr. Saliba removed the old leads and replaced them. Everything went well and I came home, got sick with a terrible cold and am just now getting back to my normal self.
I wrote all of that so that you can see the extensive background with treatments that I have and I wanted you to know that I am willing to share my experiences with anyone who would like to hear how things went/are going for me.
I need to go for now. Hope to hear from lots of you.
Lisa, I'm finally back. Elizabeth, I'll call you later this week.
Judy
I haven't been contributing much to the board lately, but would like to start. Lisa asked me to help out as one of the moderators, so I will try to check in every day or so.
I know many of you out there (from the HCMA meetings and phone conversations), but for those of you that don't know me, here's some of my hcm history.
I was diagnosed in 1989 at age 22. In 1995 I had a pacemaker put in (when that was the 'new' treatment). My gradient had been in the 60's for many years and I started having some near syncope episodes in 1999. My gradient at that time was around 100mm Hg. So, I had a radio frequency ablation (supposedly to help with the obstruction) in 1999 that ablated my AV node and left me pacemaker dependent. After that I became very symptomatic. I started doing my own research and found the HCMA at this time. I saw Dr. Lever at the Cleveland Clinic in November of 1999 and had a myectomy that same month. He was also doing alcohol ablations at the time, but he didn't think that was the best option for me. Life has been great ever since. At the end of January I had to have my pacemaker replaced. I decided to have an ICD/pacemaker combo put in (which meant replacing the ventricular leads). I went to CCF again and Dr. Saliba removed the old leads and replaced them. Everything went well and I came home, got sick with a terrible cold and am just now getting back to my normal self.
I wrote all of that so that you can see the extensive background with treatments that I have and I wanted you to know that I am willing to share my experiences with anyone who would like to hear how things went/are going for me.
I need to go for now. Hope to hear from lots of you.
Lisa, I'm finally back. Elizabeth, I'll call you later this week.
Judy
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