After 9 years, my sister finally had another child. She now has a boy and a girl.
But she had to stay in the hospital for a month after being diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy.
Peripartum/Postpartum Cardiomyopathy is a rare condition that happens to pregnant women during the last trimester of pregnancy. It is a form of heart failure where the heart’s efficiency in pumping blood is reduced from its normal level.
My OB-GYN was worried and advised that I should also consult an internal medicine doctor because of my sister’s condition.
Lo and behold, a month after my sister gave birth, I too was diagnosed with the same condition.
I gave birth to my second child on Feb. 13. And in the early morning of Feb. 14, during the nurses’ routine vital signs check, they were alarmed because my blood pressure dropped to 90/60. That was also the day I felt like I was drowning while lying on the bed.
I went outside the room and got some fresh air on the balcony because the air inside the hospital room felt heavy.
After laboratory tests and a 2D echo, my ejection fraction was down to 33%. Normal is between 55% and 70%.
Scared, anxious, and hardly able to breathe, I prayed to God, “Lord, is this it? Will I be able to at least see my toddler before I die?
Can I be given at least a chance to take care of my newborn? Will I have an unexpected heart attack and leave my family behind?”
Days passed in fear, but thank God for my doctors, for their reassurance, and for a cardiologist friend who reminded me that there is a chance for a full recovery.
There was medication, a lot of it, and it wasn’t cheap.
But the most expensive part is losing your strength. A few steps mean catching your breath. A little walk felt like I had just finished a jog.
My water intake was limited while I was dying of thirst during the hot season and while breastfeeding.
It was even better to sleep sitting down because sleeping while lying on the bed felt like dying.
A cough isn’t just a usual cough. It felt like losing your breath with every cough.
Then, slowly, I felt better. It was like everything was normal again. I could drive again. I could take longer walks. I was ready to start an exercise routine.
Unfortunately, as destiny would have it, I caught a sore throat, and I was back to square one. What’s worse? This time, I was having episodes of chest pain that lasted for minutes, accompanied by weakness in my limbs and cold sweats.
It is a scary feeling because you don’t know if it’s a heart attack or just a temporary episode. And every day, I get anxious, wondering if I will ever feel it again.
So here I am now, still on the journey to complete and total recovery. But no matter how difficult and scary those moments are, I still thank the Lord for them.
Because in those moments of uncertainty and fear that my life would be taken away from me, I realized how God helped me survive. Those moments are a testament that God is real.
Now I see life in a new light. Every day that I wake up is bonus time, a God-given opportunity to spend one more day with the people I cherish and love.
