It's down to me now!

So, it's been a while since my last post and things have been busy.  I've been keeping my running up but am having problems with my right knee meaning it seizes up when it's immobile for any time especially for a few days after a longish run. Pretty sure it's just while I'm building muscle up in my legs so no way will it get in the way.  I've also managed to damage my rotator cuff (muscles in the shoulder joint) so am having to do daily weight exercises to build up muscle and keep it flexible.  It bloody hurts at times but far better than it was when I first saw the physio.

The main thing that has happened was last Wednesday when I had an appointment with my cardiology consultant.  I've never actually seen him before even though I've always been under hs care.  All my previous appointments were with his registrar who was the person who diagnosed me with my heart failure (and who I am amazingly grateful to - she has been amazing throughout).  Anyway, this appointment was to go through the results of a cardiac exercise test and echocardiogram that I had back in April.  Appointments like this always involve a certain amount of trepidation but this one even more so as it was where I would find out how my heart was now performing and if well enough would mean I was discharged from the hospital's care.

When I was first diagnosed, I was told my heart had an ejection fraction of 10% which was as scary as it sounds.  The Ejection Fraction (or EF) is a measure of how much of the blood that is in your left ventricle is expelled on each beat.  For a normal healthy person this is around 60-75% so an EF of 10% is pretty bad and explains qute how ill I was last year.  So, there I was, waiting to see my consultant and find out how I had hopefully improved.

The appointment itself actually only lasted around 10 minutes.  I went into the consulting room and my consultant asked me a few general questions on how I was.  Was I drinking alcohol (No), was I smoking (No), had I had any chest pains (No), had I been breathless (No), was I still exercising (Yes).  So far so good.  So, now the important bit, what Ejection Fraction was my echocardiogram showing?  Well, the answer to that is 45%.  What does that actually mean though, it's not what is termed as normal, but actually means I have mild to moderate heart failure now which to my mind is fine.  It may improve further as I get fitter and fitter which is the plan. I feel like I've been given a second chance here and I have no intention of buggering it up.

What it does mean is that I am now discharged from hospital so no more appointments, just a six monthly blood pressuure and blood test at my GP's.  I also no longer have to take my Warfarin tablets which is the one drug I wanted to be able to stop if possible.  No more worrying about cutting or bruising myself which is great. I was on Warfarin because I had a couple of blood clots in my heart when I was in hospital but there is no trace of them now so fingers crossed that's all sorted.  I still need to continue on with the various other pills but I'm fine with that.

I've also been put forward as Co-Chair of an NHS patient steering group for a study I have taken part in in conjunction with Leeds and Bradford Universities which focusses on patient management of their medicines.  I've decided to become as involved as time will allow with things like this.  Not only is it extremely intersting but I feel like I want to put something back and if I can help improve processes for patients then we all benefit!