Angie & Jim

The New Theoryby Jim

Angie is back to her room and I’ve chatted with her a bit and caught her up on the latest theory.  She only got a few details and knew that they didn’t fix any shunts, so she was really worried that it was kind of a useless procedure.  The more I think about, the more it makes sense.  Angie’s blood pressure has been lower than usual and she’s been on a very low sodium diet (lower than we have at home) and she’s lost TONS of fluid and is taking medicine to make her lose fluid.  They were worried about her blood pressure in the cath lab, so they were a little light on the pain meds, so it was a tough cath for Angie.  They’ve got her on a fluid drip now because she’s a little dehydrated.  The irony of this is really strange to me.  She had 4 L of fluid drained out of her chest, and now we’re pumping fluid back into her arm.  I know it is necessary, but you have to admit, it’s ironic.

After chatting with Angie, she remembers having had blood pressure problems several years ago back in Utah.  She said that on a few occasions, she would start to feel fuzzy, then nauseated, then she’d have to sit down or lie down.  Eventually it would pass and she’d be fine.  She told her cardiologist about these episodes and she said that Angie was probably just having problems with her blood pressure.  She advised her to carry a bag of Doritos with her wherever she went and if she felt it coming on to just eat the chips.  It is exactly the same sequence of feelings she has now when she’s sitting up.  The shunt theory didn’t quite add up, because it should have been more constant and not so dependent on her position.  This theory fits everything we’ve observed so far.

It also makes me feel better that shunts haven’t suddenly formed in her body.  That would have started a new and scary chapter in her medical history.  Additionally, if they had formed, it would probably have been because of the prolonged high pressures in her heart.  I would have felt terribly guilty (in fact, I was already starting to) knowing that we could have come to the hospital sooner and that maybe we could have come before they were formed.  The low-blood-pressure theory is much simpler and easier to deal with.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers today.  It means so much to us.