Hello,
my grandmother was diagnosed with heart failure stage 2 (HFpEF) 6 months ago after a heart attack. She is medicated and things seem to settle. She sleeps a lot, but her cardiologist tells us not to worry too much about that. He says that the heart attack drained her energy and with rest she will regain some of her former energy.
Her cardiologist didn't tell us how her prognosis is, i.e. how much time she has left. He told us it's very difficult to predict, even with knowing in what stage she is. He told us that he saw people live decades (until their late 90s) and other people dying within a year.
Is there any way to predict how long my grammy has left or is it like her doctor said? What has been your experience? She is 90 years old. Thank you.
Nobody can predict the life span of this disease. DeeAnna gives good advice: focus on today. Or as we said in the 70s, Help grandma bloom where she is planted now.
I suggest that you focus on NOW, focus on your grandmother and enjoy her while she is alive. Do not worry about when she will die. Encourage her to talk about her heritage and video-tape your conversations for genealogy purposes. Look at old photographs and write the names of the people and the event the photo was taken at on the back of the photo or on a index card and attach it with removable poster tape to the back of the photo.
If you want to research information about heart failure stage 2 (HFpEF), I suggest:
ahaheartfailure.ksw-gtg.com/publication/?i=461880#{"issue_id":461880,"page":0}
and
www.webmd.com/heart-disease/heart-failure/heart-failure-treatment-by-stage
"Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself." :)
I remember when my Dad had a heart attack, it really zapped the energy out of him, he could barely walk a few feet at first, and couldn't drive for months. And the pills were also making him tired. It took him about 6 months to recover back to his own self.
My Dad lived about 8 years after that, passed from aspiration pneumonia. Time tables can vary from patient to patient. My parents always walked 2 miles every day, come rain or shine, so that helped my folks live longer. My Mom had hypertension and lived to be 98, it was a fall that took her life, so one never knows.