Tales of Anemic Girl... The Heartest Part

hello all. it’s me again, your Patient-In-Residence.

just thought i’d update everyone on how i’m doing. i’m not sure who even reads this anymore, but it’s still a comfort for me to write on, so i keep coming back.

the day after my last post, i went to see a Cardiologist in my hometown. he took an echocardiogram of my heart. turns out that i have a pericardial effusion, which was something i was found to have while i was in the hospital. basically, i have fluid around my heart, which causes the following symptoms (all of which i have at some point or another):

• Fluid retention (edema)
• Low blood pressure
• Shortness of breath
• Dizziness or fainting
• Chest pain
• Cough
• Fast heart rate or heart palpitations

so basically, i am walking around like a 90 year-old, trying not to upset my heart, but even the smallest exertion or movement makes it skip or race. so, i’m being confined to bedrest, or something quite close to it so i can heal.

on top of everything else, my hemoglobin is still relatively low (causing my anemia), so i’ve been feeling pretty weak. i just spoke with my Rheumatologist yesterday, and she is going to wean me off the steroids and put me on Plaquinil, which should help the inflammation and the effusion. she did say that i wasn’t in any real danger, which was such a comfort for me to hear, since i’ve been kind of scared of the unpredictability of this whole illness anyway. if anyone is keeping score, all signs point to an inflammatory or autoimmune disorder/disease.

so... for the time being, i am just taking every day as it comes, and trying not to worry or dwell on the bad stuff, which seems to be the hardest part.