Introduction

[Joyce Leinart]

Greetings to All,
I have been reading the archives for the past several days soaking up all the info my brain will absorb but after 2 days I started to feel like a peeping Tom and decided it was time to introduce myself. Hi, I'm Joyce and have HOCM. Phew!! That wasn't so hard.
Anyway, I just want to thank everyone for all the info they are sharing-it is such a relief not to feel so all alone with this disease.
Warning:I'm electronically challenged and this is my first time posting on a board, so if I do something out of line or outrageously stupid I welcome all corrections.
I notice another Joyce posting so I will sign Joyce L. to avoid confusion.
I'm on my way to pick up car from garage and drive up to visit my mother in the hospital but I will be back later.
Best to all,
Joyce L.

[Reenie]

Re: Introduction

Dear Joyce L,

Welcome to the HCMA. We appreciate you sharing with us. I hope that you find a lot of information and support here. Let us know if you have any questions we can answer for you.

Reenie

[Joyce Leinart]

Re: Introduction

Reenie,
Thank you for the welcome.
Joyce L

[Reenie]

Re: Introduction

You're welcome. I hope to hear more about you soon.

Reenie

[Joyce Leinart]

Re: Introduction

Hi Reenie,
This has been a hectic week for me. I just got home from visiting my mom who is in ICU unit with CHF. She was admitted Sun.night or rather early Mon morning. This is her second trip to the hospital in as many weeks. The week before last she had a cardiac arrest-was home several days and now CHF. Although she is now breathing by herself with only limited help from a respirator, she is still not awake or responsive. I might add her heart problems, as far as we know, are unrelated to HOCM. I'm going to pack a few things and head back up to her house, since the drive is eighty miles one way I think my energy will last a lot longer without all that driving. I would be grateful for any prayers for my mom.
Thank You All!!
When I have a little more time I will share my story with everyone.
For now I will say goodbye

Joyce L

[Reenie]

Re: Introduction

I would be grateful for any prayers for my mom.
Joyce L

Joyce, you've got it. Take care of yourself and we'll be here when you have time to get back to us.

Reenie

[Lisa Salberg]

Re: Introduction

Welcome to the site!
I hope your mother is regaining her health. How old is she? Does she have HCM?
How is your health holding up with all of the stress? Please remember to take care of yourself.

Lisa

[Joyce Leinart]

Re: Introduction

Hi to All,
Well I'm back home! My mother was released from the hospital today and other than weakness she seems to be doing very well. Thank you for the prayers and concern. My sister is coming down from NJ and will arrive tomorrow to stay with my mother for about a week. I'm going to rest,rest, rest. My energy levels are very low right now but I seem to have no problem regaining energy if I just rest for a day or two.
Lisa to answer your question about my mother and HCM-No, her problems are unrelated to HCM and she is 85. My paternal grandfather died at a young age from a "heart problem" that was in 1947. and thinking back on my fathers several trips to the ER for chest pain (no heart attack) I think he might have had mild HCM-if their is such a thing as mild HCM.
A little background on me. My parents always told me I was born with a heart problem and since I had a heart murmur I always assumed that was the extent of my problems. To make a long convoluted story short I will just say I was officially diagnosed with HOCM 3/07/01.(I'm now 53) My ECG was irregular so I had an echo and wore a holter moniter for 48 hours. The echo showed an IV septum of 2.4 that was the biggie for me- some of the other #'s were off and a41mm gradient across the left venticular outflow tract-mild SAM. One puzzling thing to me is the left atrium is 4.9 ( for some reason I was under the impression just the ventricle was involved with HOCM not the atrium).
The only med I'm on is 100mg atenolol. So far that has worked well for me. I have had no more incidents of severe chest pain or wildly irregular heart rhythms since starting the atenolol. My "mild" irregular rhythms,since atenolol, never last long enough for me to make it to the ER (cringe after all the nightmarish stories from HCMers) to find out what kind of irregular heart beat I'm having and that is a concern to me. My heart also behaved while wearing the holter except for "sporatic non-sustained runs of atrial tachycardia." "249 PAC's and 15 PVC's" whatever that means.
My last check up was about three months ago and at that time I was having vague achy (no pain) feelings around my heart and the cardiologist said it wasn't my heart but my intuition tells me otherwise, then again maybe I'm just paranoid.
Best wishes to all.
Joyce L

[SharonBates]

Re: Introduction

Hi Joyce,
Glad to hear your mother is doing better! Hope you enjoy your "rest days" and start feeling like yourself.

Have a great week!

Sharon

[Joyce Leinart]

Re: Introduction

Hi Sharon,
Thanks for the note and I wish also for you a great week!
Joyce L

[Reenie]

Re: Introduction

Joyce,

The 4.9 atrium is the diameter of the chamber, not the muscle. You're right, the ventricles and septum are usually affected and not the atrium. However, when your heart works extra hard all the time, the left atrium can get enlarged somewhat. And listen to your istinct. If you think that your achy feeling is heart related, follow up on it. You know more about yourself than anyone else. Hope you get rested and feel better soon.

Reenie