Andi’s Story

Site created on September 19, 2018

Diagnosed in August 2001 with dilated cardiomyopathy and congestive heasrt failure. Had pretty normal life until 2012 when heart failure really started progressing. In October 2017 things started to progressively get worse and in March 2017, placed on continuous IV that was assisting my heart by helping it contract harder. Heart was too weak to profuse blood through body and absorbing fluid in my gut. The fluid overloads also meant my kidneys took a hit. There wasn’t enough blood passing through kidney to filter water from blood so not much fluid could be filtered to create urine. Fluid overload has been a battle. Several admissions solely to get IV meds to pull off fluid! Fast forward to August... still wear bag of IV medicine with more nights in hospital than home 24/7. But last Monday, September 10, I knew something major was wrong so I left at 5:30 and drove myself to Houston. They started getting aggressive with fluid overload. Things were headed in right direction but at a slow pace. Then, on Saturday, September 15, out of nowhere my defibrillator shocked me. It shocked me 5 times in 14 minutes. That landed me in CICU here in Houston.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Sarah Bulloch

Andi was moved from CICU last night and is back on her regular floor in Fondren 11. The goal is to finish getting fluid off of her...they’ve removed 19 lbs of fluid so far. They are also monitoring her kidney and liver function. Liver is almost back to normal but she is still considered to be in kidney failure but lab work shows it improving daily. As mentioned in earlier posts, her medical team is standing firm on their decision to not get her an LVAD. After she met with drs, social workers, psychiatrist, case managers, and transplant coordinators, it was decided that ultimately, she wouldn’t do good with an LVAD. Another major factor in considering her for LVAD is that she is so sick and they don’t feel like she would make it through such a lengthy surgery. LVAD surgery is 5x harder to recover from than a transplant surgery. At this time she is stable and physical therapy will start working with her on walking again. She is finally able to walk from bed to bathroom without assistance. Her friend, Jennifer Austin is there with her last night and tonight. Visitors are welcome and there are no visiting hours. Thank you so much for all of your support and prayers. We’ve got a long way to go but she’s a fighter and is ready for another round.
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