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Monday, August 16, 2010

News from the Cardiologist

The Cardiologist just left and told me they are adjusting Sheila's IVs. The electrocadiogram showed him that her heart is weaked as a whole as opposed to just an area of the heart. With just one area weakened it could lead to heart attack. With the whole heart in a weaked condition the problem is low blood pressure and acidocous in her extremities. As the heart tries to take care of the body's core, less blood is being pumped into her legs and arms and therefore acid build up occurs. They will change her meds to control this and try and get her blood pressure up aslo. I asked him what could have caused this because she has never had any heart problems and he said it could be any number of things, leukemia, chemo, meds..etc. They are having a tough time drawing the blood they need for test because her left arm cannot be used due to breast cancer 22 years ago and lymphnodes were removed from that arm. They also cannot use her right arm due to the Picc Line and because she had veins removed from that arm due to an IV needle infection back in New York last year. The cardiologist  just got the OK from Dr. DiStephano to use her left arm for blood  pressure monitoring and right now her pressure is 85 over 53. The plan right now is just to get her blood pressure up and the acid level in her blood lowered.   NOTE: The cardiologist just came back into our room to explain things to us. The CCU is full up and he has had his hands full. The plan like I just said is to get the right meds and dosages to  get her blood pressure up and the acidity in her blood lowered. He explained that he cannot know what caused this but many chemo drugs are heart toxic and "can" cause this problem. i asked hime why now after chemo was stopped almost a month ago and he explained that many times the chemo damage to the heart can be delayed. I asked if this is permanent damage to the heart. He said there is no set answer but many people due get ful heart function back after awhile and there are other drugs they can use to help her heart rebound. He also said Dr. DeStephano will have more answers for chemo related questions and problems. Right now they should be able to get the pressure up and the acidity down, it's just finding which of the many kids of drugs works for herr and fine tuning it as we go. Overall it's good to at least hear they have it narrowed down and a plan in place and working. SIDE NOTE: Many people have called our cell phone but I cannot use it in the CCU and there are no phones in the rooms either. I will keep Ulonda up to date by phone and she can call the rest of Sheila's family. I will also try and put all updates here as I get them from the doctors.

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