Missy Dollarhide

My name is Missy.
I am 52 years old.
I had rhuematic fever when I was a child,resulting in a heart murmur.
When I was 47 I started having spells at night. I first noticed that I couldn't lay on my left side. Then I couldn't lay on my right side. Then I couldn't breathe as well. I would be up most of the night.

I had been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. I had these attacks often. I was in the middle of one of these attacks ( throwing up and diarrhea) when I just couldn't go on and felt myself getting weaker. My husband called an ambulance and I was unconscious by the time we got to the hospital. I was kind of in and out for several days until they got me stabilized.

I had gone into congestive heart failure. I went to a cardiologist in Tucson, Arizona. Dr. Jose Fernandez, a member of the Pima Heart Group. I had all the echos and angiograms and catherizations. He told me it was my mitral valve caused by rheumatic fever. I had mitral valve stenosis and atrial fibrillation. He put me on coumadin and lanoxin. He said that the Irritable bowel syndrome wasn't real. That it was caused by my heart and would go away now that I had the lanoxin. It did go away. I have had little nausea episodes when
I didn't get enough lanoxin and the stenosis was getting worse.

I also had a bleeding ulcer and had to undergo all of the tests for that and had to go to a urologist for testing as I had blood in my urine. I didn't get the coumadin for a few weeks until all of this was taken care of.


I do not have a high tolerance for medication and have had side effects from it. Some have been very hard to deal with.Almost unbearable at times. I took xanax every so often just to get some sleep. I was afraid to take it too often eventhough the doctor said I could have it more often. I was afraid of addiction.


It was a miserable 2 years. As the stenosis progressed I was so fatigued that I could barely function. I forced myself to do things. My husband and I were both down and it was hard. We had family that helped and my mom lives across the street.She is elderly but strong and just knowing she was there helped.

I eventually had surgery about 2 years later on May 5, 1998.

I have a St. Jude's mechanical valve because there was only a slim chance that I would ever be in normal sinus rhythm.I would have to take coumadin anyway.

My surgery was at Tucson Medical Center. My surgeon was Dr. Rosado. He did a fantastic job. I will always be grateful to him for the way he handled the situation. He is a very caring person. The hospital took wonderful care of me.

I was on the ventilator not quite 4 hr. I did well. I didn't have any trouble with tubes. They let all my family in and thathelped to bring me out of the anesthetic. I came out of surgery in normal sinus rhythm but it only lasted a couple of days. I went back into atrial fibrillation.

After I woke up I was on pain meds but I don't remember what they gave me in ICU. Later they put me on vicodin.I was in a lot of pain and could not get comfortable. I was weak and I didn't want to eat. They made me breathe into thatbreathing apparatus. I hated it and would cry, I did okay but it took all my strength and I just felt like I couldn't do anything. When they made me get up I almost didn't make it. Little by little I gained and was walking and out of the hospital on the 6th day after surgery.

They let me leave Tucson on the 10th day. I didn't go to rehab as I lived too far away. We didn't have heart rehab locally. One of my sons had come from Hawaii as he was in the navy at that time. The navy let him have a month to be with me and he helped take care of me and drove and all as my husband still couldn't do much driving. My other son only had a week from work. But he was there during my time in the hospital.

My mom. brothers, sisters , grandchildren and in laws were all there. It helps to have all of that support.

I have done okay but after 2 years I am just now where my chest doesn't hurt. I have chronic atrial fibrillation which has slowed me down. I still have trouble with the medications and I think it is just something I will have to live with. I have learned from a few internet heart friends how to deal with it a little better. I have learned to not be so afraid. The doctors have worked with me to get my meds where I can tolerate them. I was on amiodarone for awhile but couldn't tolerate it so am now back on lanoxin. I have had some memory loss and my concentration seems off sometimes. I get agitated but I think that happens with the lanoxin. I have some depression and can't seem to get motivated but contribute some of that to the lanoxin also. I know some of it is because I really have pain and feel disabled. I get tired easily still but am doing so much better lately.

Sharon Feldman told me about the valve replacement site and Hank. I have really learned a lot from everyone. It helps to have others that know what I am feeling and understand the emotions and fear. They help us overcome the fear and learn to live and function and go on with our lives.

Updated: June 2003
I am doing much better. My doctor's have streamlined my medication. I don't have bad side effects anymore. Just mild ones every now and then. I have developed hypothyroidism and take synthroid for that. I have felt fine the last year. I just can't do anything too aroebic because of the atrial fibrillation.
I did have a little trouble when pharmacist tried to switch me to generic instead of Lanoxin, so I stayed on Lanoxin.

I finally made it!!!