My name is Tonya Dean and I am 29 years old. I live in Festus, Missouri with my husband Rich, my 6 year old son Aaron, and my 2 year old daughter Lydia. I was diagnosed with peripartum cardiomyopathy in December of 1999, 3 weeks after the birth of Lydia. I believe to this day that I had ppcm long before that. This is just from reading books and hearing other people's stories.

I was put in the hospital 2 months after my oldest child's birth for gallbladder problems. The doctor said it could have been a reaction to the birth control pills I had began taking and once I stopped the pills, the extreme cramping stopped. The doctors never did any testing other than blood tests and they released me after 4 days. I did not have my gallbladder removed and have not had any pains to this day. I was extremely tired for the last 2 months of my second pregnancy and gained a lot of excess weight (and being overweight to begin with did nothing to help the situation). My OB even did a second sonogram to check the size of the baby for fear she was close to 10 pounds; she only weighed 7'13". I had a normal delivery, but felt I had a cold even before I left the hospital. As soon as I came home the panic attack started. I felt I had one major case of postpartum blues. I would cry all the time, and I mean ALL the time. I had a prescription filled for antidepressants but I never took them.

I had to sleep in an arm chair sitting up for a week because I could not sleep otherwise from extreme shortness of breath. I could not walk 100 feet out to my minivan or I would half fall over from SOB. I went to the ob because my regular doc (who obviously is not my doc anymore) would not see me. The ob said it was just postpartum but ordered a chest x-ray anyway because I said I wasn't going home until she did. I could by now feel the gurgling and crackling with every breath I tried to take. The ob then called me with the results and said it showed fluid in my left lung and I must have a slight touch of pneumonia and to take a round of Zithromax. After completing the Zithromax, all the sob came right back, and I was still sleeping in the chair.

One Sunday evening, I just could not take it anymore so while my husband stayed with the kids, my mom drove me to the ER. I did not even make it in the ER door. I fell over on the heater just outside and they had to come running out and help me in. My o2 levels were at 50 and my heart rate was 180. They put me on an oxygen mask and gave me a breathing treatment. They decided to put me on heparin because they thought I may have blood clots in my lungs from childbirth. PPCM had not even been mentioned at this time. I spent the night in ICU still getting breathing treatments. I had a VQ lung scan which came out normal. They did sonograms of my extremities looking for blood clots but found none. THe supposed lung specialist determined that I must have asthma. I had never once had asthma before in my life, so I guess it just magically appeared. I went to a regular room, still having SOB even with the Albuterol. After about 12 hours in a regular room, my nurse had only been in 1 time. I began extreme coughing and SOB. I was literally praying to God to please let me live to see my babies again because I thought I was going to die. I kept begging them to call the doctor and give me something else for the SOB. They offered to call the hospital psychiatrist because they thought I was depressed about not being with my children. After a few hours of this, and when I began to pass out, the rushed me back to ICU. This time my 02 was around 30 and my heart rate was over 200. They put on a full oxygen mask, which I had to wear for 3 days. They gave me Lasix through an IV. They made my husband sign a release form for a breathing tube. Fortunately, they never had to use it.

It took almost 12 hours for my breathing to stabilize. I was told that I was in critical condition. I just remember passing out about 5 times. They did a bedside electrocardiogram and then determined it must be ppcm. Let me tell you, I will NEVER set foot in that hospital again. I have switched doctors, hospitals, everything. I love my new doctor. He is so wonderful. If any of you are from St. Louis, get in touch with me and I will tell you about him. At my six month echo I had an ef of 45. I do not know what it was at my diagnosis, but I know the wording said severe. At my echo last June 2001 my ef was 50-55 and mild. I feel great most of the time. I have to watch how much I do and pace myself. I have become much more of a mellow person and I do not let the little things get to me. I can't. Right now I take .25 mg of Digoxin, 40 mg of Lasix 3x a day, 25 mg of Captopril 3x a day, and 12.5 mg of Coreg 2x a day. These seem to help me. The best thing for me is talking about it. I am looking for a support group in the St. Louis area but haven't found one yet. For those of you reading this just after diagnosis: talk to as many of us as you can. That is such a big help. I look forward to many e-mails from all of you and will respond to all of you. I hope this finds all of you feeling well.

rntdean@jcn.net.