Dying Man’s Daily Journal – Heart Failure Mortality

I came across this article that really makes me realize and appreciate what a lucky man I am. I have been diagnosed with heart failure. Just the name heart failure sound pretty serious and even scary and it is.

What is heart failure? Now I am not a doctor. As I describe it, it is all “according to Bill” being as I understand it. Heart failure in itself is not a disease in itself but is instead a symptom of an underlying problem. In my case 4 heart attacks have damaged the muscles in the walls of the heart causing them to stiffen. We all know a stiff muscle doesn’t work with the same ease as does a healthy muscle. It doesn’t have the same flexibility it once did. It does not pump the blood through with the same efficiency it once did. Basically, this causes the blood and fluids in my system to back up causing fluid retention and edema. The force of gravity I believe comes into play as often the majority of the build up occurs in the feet and ankle areas. But, it does spread through out the entire body. When the build up spreads to particularly my chest it becomes more serious putting extra pressure on the heart and lungs. It seems to be about 2 or 3 times a year I end up going to the hospital (just to check out the pretty nurses) and they help “drain” my system. I take pills daily to help me pee and generally that works well.

I feel very lucky for 2 reasons.

#1. Now let’s face it no one wants to be diagnosed with any sort of terminal illness but we really don’t have a choice in the matter. I always try to put a positive spin on things. Now this is how I choose to look at it. There are cancers and so very many other diseases that are such a much more horribly painful way to leave this world. I am lucky in that the vast majority of the time I feel fine. OK, tired, lethargic, almost constant shortness of breath. Some chest pain but not excruciating pain and that is usually quickly dealt with by my nitro spray. Well I have the memory stuff by that is beside the point. I know it could be so much worse, others suffer so very much more.

#2. Lucky, blessed  I am not really sure how to describe my feelings here. I often search the internet for heart failure news, looking I suppose for new discoveries or what ever. Often I find things such as the article I have copied and posted below. Statistically mortality rates for heart failure patients really suck, read the article I copied below and see what I mean. Those though are statistics and I AM NOT A STATISTIC, I AM ME AND ME ALONE. I have written of how only once have I ever actually been given any sort of time questimate by a doctor. There was a bit more to it but it essentially said, 2 years if I am lucky. Well guess what, come November 1st. it will be 4 years and I am still going strong and plan on keeping it that way for years to come. I think we can get to wrapped up in statics and take them to seriously. I am not a statistic and will not die according to the timeframe on some chart. I will only leave this world when the Good Lord calls me home.

Is the Good Lord giving me extra time, can’t imagine why I would warrant any special consideration. Am I living on borrowed time. I don’t know, but I will take it how ever I get it.

This is the article I found at The British Heart Foundation Statistics website.

I found it at: http://www.heartstats.org/datapage.asp?id=752

National mortality statistics for heart failure In 2001, just over 11,500 deaths due to heart failure were officially recorded in the UK. However, the number of deaths attributed to heart failure in national mortality statistics is likely to be a huge underestimate of the actual number of deaths caused by heart failure. Guidance on death certificates – that heart failure is not a cause but a mode of death – explicitly discourages doctors from noting heart failure as the underlying cause of death. This means that other causes of death, such as coronary heart disease, are more commonly given as the cause of death in the death certificates of people with heart failure. Survival after a diagnosis of heart failure Prognosis from heart failure is poor. Data from the London Heart Failure Study show that around 40% of people die within one year of an initial diagnosis of heart failure. Comparing one-year survival rates for heart failure with those for a number of common cancers shows that prognosis from heart failure is relatively poor. The one-year survival rate for heart failure is worse than those for breast, prostate and bladder cancer, better than those for lung and stomach cancer, and very similar to that for cancer of the colon. Better estimates of mortality from heart failure Combining data on incidence and survival, we estimate1 that in 2001, the true number of deaths from heart failure in the UK was at least 24,000. This means at least 4% of all deaths in the UK are due to heart failure. 1. From incidence rates in the Hillingdon Heart Failure Study we estimate that there are just around 63,500 new cases of heart failure each year in the UK. Applying a 62% one-year survival rate to this figure, means that just over 24,100 of those diagnosed from heart failure die within a calendar year.