Cardiologist appointment, Heart procedure in 2.weeks

Hi my name is steph, I’m 38 year old mum of 3 beautiful children. Two out of three have ASD so my hands are very full! In 2023 I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and with that I developed heart issues. To better my life eg heart rate and high blood pressure I decided to finally lose weight! As of two weeks ago I have lost 45kgs. But unfortunately the heart didn’t get any better if anything it got worse which I now know it’s wasn’t weight related.

a year ago I was told I had a etopic heart which at the time the doctors weren’t to concerned until I started having fainting episodes.

my heart rate can go from 108 resting to 150 then down to 60 in 3 beats it’s honestly the most terrible feeling. I will go grey as a nurse has seen at my local county hospital, or my partner tells me I’m very white and to sit back down. Every time I sit up it takes me at least 4 minutes due to the blood rushing around my heart in different directions to get to my head fast to protect my brain which causes me to black out (faint) I’m also getting uncontrollable head tremors. I can’t even take my children to school anymore because i will have a panic attack as I’m scared I will collapse. I’m on anxiety medication to help as well as heart medication but the issue with taking the heart medication is it slows the heart rate down but my blood pressure is already very low and can cause more issues when taking it.. My gp did a referral to see a a cardiologist as cad1 due to something else happening with the blood flow in a valve which I will be needing surgery for. Two days ago I received my appointment in Perth as I live 3 hours away.

so normally we stay one night if anyone in the family has a appointment but I was informed to stay two days just in case they need to run more test during my first appointment. I will be applying for the PATS FUEL ASSISTANCE but that’s only $130 that’s one way in my Toyota Land Cruiser. I’ve crunched the numbers exactly to how much I would be needing to get to this very important appointment as it’s not only scary to know or feel something is wrong with my heart but I want to enjoy every day life but at the moment my body is sleeping a lot!! Which isn’t me, my children’s father can’t work as someone needs to do the school runs while I can’t. My appointment is in 3 weeks on the 28th of August. A friend has donated me some money that I’m very greatfull for but these are still what is needed for my heart appointment trip.

fuel out of pocket= $140

cabin for 2 nights= $490

Appointment =$220

Food and essentials=$100

total of $950

one thing I dislike doing is asking anyone for money, I don’t have parents or grandparents as they are all deceased. I’ll be getting a electrophysiology study done also. For those who don’t know what this is? I’ll explain…

so I’ll be put to sleep in hospital where the cardiologist will go through a main artery in my groin area with a camera and other things. They will stimulate my heart with different medications to watch what electrical signals that aren’t working correctly or are causing the blood not to flow the correct way. If they can fix by burning closed sections they will there and then. If not then I’ll be booked back in for a bigger procedure.

im absolutely terrified but honestly just want it sorted. Just so people know I have always supported others go fund me account no matter how much it could be from $30 to $50 to 1k when I received some of my inheritance. I didn’t even know the family but I will always give when I can. It’s been really hard knowing I have a lot of people on my fb and TikTok who could help me out and haven’t. But this is a very big wake up call to myself to whom has my back when I needed some support as I’ve never asked before…….

But all I know I need this appointment and if that means I need to sell some important things that mean a lot to me so be it.

when your unwell you will really see who genuinely cares and who don’t.

I definitely see that now………