Girlfriend's heart issue(s?)

My Dad, who is in his seventies, has been living with this a similar condition for four or five years, now. He’s got atrial fibrillation. Your heart still beats, but there is a greater danger of stroke, and since you don’t have as good a blood flow, you get tired more quickly.

My father takes lots of blood thinners, and has to be tested regularly and get his meds adjusted. The blood can’t be too thick or too thin. Too thin, and you can bleed out too easily (no clotting). Too thick and you get much higher risk of blood clots, which find their way into your brain, and get stuck, and voila! A stroke!

They do have ways of attempting to treat the condition. One somewhat scary sounding one is when they stop your heart and then start it up again. My Dad said that if they do this, and then your heart reverts to the wrong beat, the shock probably won’t work again. There’s also an operation, I believe, but I’m not sure about that, and I don’t know how it works.

Anyway, you can read more on any of the medical websites. This article about arrhythmia might be a good starting point. As I said, my father has atrial fibrillation. You might recognize the name of what your gf has from that article. However there’s a real good chance she will lead a full life, I would think. Don’t give up hope!

It is scary. And it’ll be scary until you see that she is surviving. There’s a very good chance she has a long life ahead of her, although it may be a modified life. It is doubtful that she will ever climb Mt. Everest, now.

People with Marfan syndrome are susceptible to several heart related issues, most notably, enlargement of the aorta. Aortic enlargement can lead to aortic valve regurgitation, which would lead to more blood in the heart and shortness of breath.

You mentioned that she said “the bottom chamber of the heart will randomly beat causing the top part of the chamber to fill with more blood than usual.” That is a description of a premature ventricular contraction, which was likely evident on an EKG they did in the office. I would guess that if her doctor/cardiologist wasn’t too concerned, then that should be reassuring. There are lots of treatments for these issues (as well as preventive measures), and so the fact that she has what appears to be close follow-up is a good sign.

Cheer up. All will be well.

What @shilolo said. The ventricles are the chambers at the bottom of the heart. The atria are the upper chambers. I have elderly GYN patients who are on coumadin a blood thinner for atrial fibrillation. It prevents the blood from clotting in the atrium and therefore prevents strokes.
Ventricular fibrillation is a much less common and more serious condition – if they seriously thought she had ventricular fibrillation, they wouldn’t have let her go home today.

Thank you for the responses while my worry’s still around your words are all encouraging, thank you

Sending good thoughts your way!

@Syger: I don’t know what I’d do if my boyfriend told me he had some health condition, since we’re also long distance and I couldn’t be there to take care of him. I’m sending LOTS of good thoughts your way, since I can’t even imagine the position you’re in.

I just wanted to say I’m also sending good thoughts and big hugs your way! Don’t beat yourself up for caring about her so much! It means you know how to love.

As far as “What can I do for her?” you could send her a care package filled with things she likes. Sometimes when my boyfriend and I are apart and I’m too busy to make him a package myself, I’ll just buy something on amazon that I think he’ll like, a book, or a cream and sugar set shaped like panda bears, or a CD, and have it shipped to his house. They even have let you include a message for free (I think they call it a “card” but it’s so not a card, it’s like a packing slip except with your message printed on it instead of an invoice. Anyways, sorry for the tangent We also send each other a lot of messages, songs, and pictures over facebook and email, just things that are silly and cute. It’s always nice to receive stuff like that, and it’s fun to look for stuff that your SO would like. I hope that helps. :)

I’m sorry you are hurting so badly. I feel for you, long distance is so hard, but to have to deal with medical issues on top of it… You are in my thoughts.

What do you do? Be Positive, and know that she is probably overwhelmed. Make more of an effort to send her things to let her know that you are thinking about her. I was going to say the same thing that @La_chica_gomela just said. Make her a care package. Buy her cheesy little cards more often. Don’t take life for granted and love her with everything you have.