Michael

Michael's been feeling unwell since he stopped smoking in January (starting with feeling like there was something in his lungs), so he went to see his doctor. She said, at the time, that it was probably because he'd stopped smoking. All right, we can believe that. When you stop smoking, your body dotoxes itself, so you can get sick.

Then he started feeling worse. Around Febuary/March, his heart started acting up a bit. First time it happened, he said that it felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. Unfortunately, he neither went to his doctor or told me about it. Since then, it got worse (including him getting short of breath going up the stairs). So, he went to see his doctor again, and she had him go to the hospital to get some tests done. He did, just before we went on vacation. When we got back, he called his doctor and was told that his tests had come back normal, but since he still felt unwell, she'd contact the hospital so he could get some more tests done.

Monday, his ankles had swelled quite a bit, so I told him to call his doctor to let her know, but as it was too late in the day, he had to wait until the next day. Well, later in the evening, my mom called, and when I told her about Michael's ankles, she told us to go to the E.R. We did, which resulted in Michael getting admitted (he was ashgrey, and his pulse was *really* high), so they could give him some extensive tests. Those are done and we got the results today.

Michael has chronic heart failure, one of his heart valves is too big, and there's a fairly large hole in it. On top of this, his heart's only working on 15-20% of its capacity, which means that the operation he needs to replace the heart valve will be postponed. He's currently on medication to help his heart work well enough for the operation, and he'll be moved to another hospital. One that's bigger and has more heart specialists for that.