Life Changing Events

[Tyek]

I lost my grandfather to Congestive Heart Failure a few years ago, and last Monday I had to race my dad to the hospital where he was diagnosed with it. At 61 he is in good shape, skinny and very sharp, so this was a total shock. He seems to have aged 20 years in 1 week. He will be living with us for at least a month before heading back up the mountains to his home. So I have my parents back in the house. (He is actually back in the hospital again today. I am getting ready to go back and see him.)

My question is for any of you who had relatives with this condition. How long did they live after diagnosis? My grandfather had his attack on my wedding day and lived another 10 years. I have heard one other person say their grandmother lived 8 years, but both were about 10 years older then my dad is now. Any help is appreciated.

[Sylvus]

I lost my grandfather to Congestive Heart Failure a few years ago, and last Monday I had to race my dad to the hospital where he was diagnosed with it. At 61 he is in good shape, skinny and very sharp, so this was a total shock. He seems to have aged 20 years in 1 week. He will be living with us for at least a month before heading back up the mountains to his home. So I have my parents back in the house. (He is actually back in the hospital again today. I am getting ready to go back and see him.)

My question is for any of you who had relatives with this condition. How long did they live after diagnosis? My grandfather had his attack on my wedding day and lived another 10 years. I have heard one other person say their grandmother lived 8 years, but both were about 10 years older then my dad is now. Any help is appreciated.

My grandmother has congestive heart failure, and she's 91 years old. I don't recall exactly how long ago she was diagnosed, I'm pretty sure it was at least 8 years ago. If we're talking about the same thing (I could be off, but I"m pretty sure that's what it was), they gave her a pacemaker and put her on oxygen at night while she sleeps. I believe she's raved about how much better she felt after she got on the oxygen. Unfortunately she isn't doing the best right now, they just recently said they'd like to perform heart surgery on her which she doesn't think she wants to bother with since she's 91 years old. But she is significantly older than your dad, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if he still had a lot of time left.

Good luck to you, and hopefully he'll be around for a long time to come!

[Fairweather Pure]

Congestive heart failure sounds worse than it is. I mean, it's not good by any means, but it's still a rather ambiguous term when talking about diseases of the heart. It can be acute/serious and life threatening, or it can hang out on the fringes of your health for the rest of your life and just aggravate anything else that happens to you. It is a serious comorbidity and will make future health issues worse. For instance, if he gets pneumonia or has any other heart issues CHF will exacerbate those kinds of things. If he already has hypertension or smokes, the chances of his CHF getting worse is much higher.

You can live a perfectly fine life after being diagnosed with CHF. Your father may have to take some meds and alter some habits, but if it's not like end stage cancer.

Its good of you to take care of your father. Good luck.