Randy's Heart Condtion

I am forcing myself to come to grips with the fact that Randy is in terrible condition. After our visit to the doctor to get the results from his echo we spent the day holding each other and crying. I wanted to let you know what is going on with my sweet husband, and hope that I can explain clearly. Many of you know that Randy had rheumatic fever when he was a younger. Recently he has started to show signs that things are not well. We have seen his heart doctor and taken tests that show that his heart is in very poor shape. He is on three new medications to try to get his heart stabilized. We don't know if they will work, or if they will work how long it will last. The words that still haunt me are how it will most likely come down to a heart and lung transplant. He is not currently on a list. I don't know how long the list is. His lungs are very heavily involved in his problem, and just a heart transplant would fail immediately because of his pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in his lungs) Unfortunately his whole body's blood pressure is on the low side of normal and the meds will most likely take him even lower, dangerously. Also, the walls of his heart have become so enlarged to compensate for this high pressure, that his heart is only pumping out 15 to 20 percent of his blood volume and at his age he should be pumping at least 60 to 75 percent. His doctor was amazed that he had been working up till last Thursday, and that usually people are in bed and home bound at these levels. We wanted to let you know what was happening and ask that you would keep Randy and our family in your prayers. I will do my best to keep you updated. Thank you for your love and prayer. We are fasting this February for him. I did paste this from a group email I sent out due to how hard it is to repeat the information in detail. I am more than willing to discuss it, feel free to ask questions or call.