Healing a Heart

me, slightly sweaty and very hungry after all the waiting, plans in hand

Today was my much anticipated appointment with a one very special cardiac electrophysiologist at Penn, described to me as The Best in The World.  It took only 7 weeks of waiting (and apparently 2 additional hours in the exam room) before I got to hear the plan according to the true expert.

He explained my problems to me in simple terms and likened my tricky cardiac condition to a thermostat stuck on high.  Apparently, I am a bit of a drama queen - strictly biologically speaking - and my parts are overreacting to everyday stresses.  We are going to attempt to fine tune the meds (which means working up to taking a crumb of a pill a few times daily, combined with baby aspirin for the residual heart inflammation), while aggressively hydrating and salting up a storm.  He said some very hopeful things about me being able to re-train my heart (to behave normally again) and improve my quality of life.  It was quite reassuring to hear from a doctor who didn't a)call me a challenge to medical science or b)make me feel like there were no options out there for a girl who can't tolerate the starting dose of pretty much any drug in the pharmacy.

Unbeknownst to me, our appointment was something of an audition for me - which I passed and was invited for a follow-up visit!  Yesssss.

I'm feeling hopeful this evening, after being reassured that I'm not predicted to die any time soon (still feels touch and go to me), and hearing that my heart CAN heal.  The timing on this turn of events is curious, as we are approaching my first official cancerversary (anniversary of the remission scan).  Let the healing go on.


PS. Major congratulations to a fellow PMLBC (primary mediastinal large b cell non-hodgkin's lymphoma) survivor on achieving complete remission today after not one but TWO stem cell transplants!