Name: Mr. Ronny Evans
Age: 58
Weight: 289 lbs.
Family History: Weakened heart conditions caused by high blood cholesterol have been present for three generations.
Symptoms: For a couple of months now, Mr. Evans feels pain and pressure near the chest area, as well as nausea, indigestion, and heart burn occurring more frequently than before. For a healthier lifestyle, Mr. Evans attempted to exercise regularly but was unable to do so due to shortness of breath and fatigue.
History: Mr. Evans is not married. Without a wife to cook for him at home, he likes to dine at a fast food restaurant. With the new opening of a fast food chain in the vicinity of his office, all of his meals have been in a form of unhealthy food for the last couple of weeks. Although he is fully aware of his family history, Mr. Evans does little to control his consumption of cholesterol. He also likes to snack on chips and cookies throughout his work time. While Mr. Evans does not smoke, he works with heavy smokers.
Test: When Mr. Evans decided to get his heart checked for any irregularities, his EKG found his heart rhythm detrimentally irregular. On top of the irregularities of his heart, he also had a fast heartbeat compared to men his age. He was asked by the doctor to wear a Holter monitor for a couple of days to see the heart’s continuous electrical activity. To see if there were any other abnormalities with his heart, chest X-ray was also taken. The X-ray showed an enlarged mass of the heart.
Mr. Evans was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy because of his heart’s inability to pump blood effectively, which led to changes in his heart muscle. His heart could not produce enough blood to meet the body’s needs. Just like any other muscle, his heart enlarged itself to hold more blood, and started to beat faster to pump out what his body needed.
Treatment: In order to relieve his heart muscle from straining work, a surgery was performed through cardiac resynchronization therapy (more commonly known as the pacemaker). The pacemaker was implanted in the upper chest to help Mr. Evans’s heart pump blood more effectively. Because it allows both of the ventricles to pump blood at the same time, the heart can gradually decrease its size and obtain its regular heartbeat.
Soo,
ReplyDeleteWow! Mr. Evans had some serious heart issues. Clearly you did your research so you could treat him and accurately and meticulously put in all relevant information to this blog. I loved how you explained each test and their results instead of just merely stating which tests you ran.
Major kudos,
Molly
Poor Mr. Evans! But, why does he need a wife to cook for him? :) I can tell you are very knowlegable on the subject through this post.
ReplyDeleteI liked the 'being unable to eat healthy because he has no wife' scenario too! Haha! You did a great job describing cardiomyopathy in terms we could all understand, which was very helpful; well done!
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