NM's Profile

Nancy SIne's Story: About 10 years go I was told that I had a heart murmur and it was just something to keep an eye (ear?) on. So I carried on with my life - working full time, going out, enjoying myself. In 2011 I developed pancreatitis and six months later pulmonary embolii - blood clots in both lungs. Both times I nearly died. At no time during those tests and treatments did anyone say anything about my heart murmur.Recently I saw a nurse practitioner who said, after listening to my heart, that now my heart valve was severely calcified and I probably had less than a year to live. Wait, what? I spent the next 24 hours in a state of stunned-ness. Then I told my 9-months-pregnant only daughter. Lots of tears from both of us ensued. I started madly researching on the interwebz, including hospices, end-of-life preparedness, even cremation urns. Fun times. Then I got the results from blood tests and EKG - wait a sec it's not quite that bad, maybe I do have some more life to live. So now I'm waiting to get an echocardiogram to see exactly where I'm at. Thankfully I also found this site.