Hi folks,
The past few months have definitely NOT been the best in my life to date. Earlier in the year, our cardiologist told my husband he wanted him to have a cardiac cath before the end of the year. (My husband had 4 coronary bypasses done in Nov. 1991 at the age of 41.) Naturally this has been a concern for me since he's been having some chest pains lately. He finally had the cath last month & now he has to have 3 stents put in the bypass grafts. Earlier in the month we had concerns for my 83 year-old mother-in-law. She, too, had a cardiac cath done & hers showed multiple blockages in several different arteries. At first they were talking bypass surgery for her (due to location of blockages, etc) but then they changed their minds & said they'd try to treat her with medication. She's also showing signs of Alzheimers & that's another whole situation. Our 22 year-old daughter, who still "lives at home" (more like stores her stuff here & spends all her spare time running with "friends") is really getting on my nerves & won't lift a finger to help out here at home (when she comes home long enough to take a bath, brush her teeth, & change clothes, that is!) I have more than enough painful, chronic conditions: FMS, IBS, carpal tunnel, bad heart, spasmodic torticollis, sleep apnea (it's not "painful" but the effects of it can certainly make you miserable!), chronic daily headaches, osteoarthritis, & abdominal adhesions.
When I went to the cardiologist 12/01 to get the results of some tests he had done last month, I think I may have just had another one added to the list. He said the cardiac CT scan was good & didn't show any new blockages. Then he went on to say that he might want me to have a cardiac cath to see if the chest pains I've been having might be caused by blockages in the stents I have (I have a total of 5, 3 of them are in one artery!). He said right now he'd leave that up to me. Well, I just had a cath last fall (that's when the 5th stent was put in) & I don't plan to do it again anytime soon! We also discussed the possibility that the chest pains might be a result of the FMS. He said there's a little narrowing of my carotid arteries on both sides of my neck but nothing to get really concerned about. He just wants to keep an eye on it & check it every 6-12 months. Then we got to discussion about the pulmonary function test. That news wasn't so good. He said the PFT they did showed signs of interstitial lung disease & that it's basically like scarring on the lungs. My husband quickly said, "But she's never smoked." Doesn't matter - there's no big tie-in with smoking & this condition like there is with lung cancer. I had never heard of it before, so I came home & went straight to the computer to look it up. I really don't like what I read! http://www.vh.org/adult/patient/internalmedicine/interstitiallung/
My question (finally, after all that explanation!): has anyone here on the BB had this condition or know someone who does? Does anyone know anything about it? I had originally posted this on the fibromyalgia BB & one of the posters there suggested that I post it here on the Asthma BB, that maybe someone here would know something about the ILD. Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all,
hchoneybee (Joann)
All things are possible with God.