Originally Posted by Erin524

I dont think the echo was painful, my dad didnt say anything about that.

But, apparently, it's not going to be good news.

We went thru this about 15yrs ago with my uncle (dad's little brother). In very similar circumstances. My uncle had a bad cough, it wasnt getting any better. My aunt and his coworkers tricked him into going to the hospital to get checked out (my aunt was a cardiac care nurse at the time) and he only had 15% of his heart capacity (I'd been thinking he had 50%, found out today it was 15%)

So, my dad went in to get his echo. The people doing the echo had concerned looks on their faces. They actually called the doctor down to evaluate if they should even let him go home. Apparently my dad has only 20% of his heart capacity! Better than my uncle's 15%, but still not a good sign.

15 years ago, when my uncle got diagnosed with whatever this is called, my aunt told me that my uncle only had a 5year survival rate. I'm really hoping that they've done some good advances in past 15yrs for whatever is causing my dad's problem, because my uncle died within a year and a half to 2yrs after he was diagnosed.

My dad hasnt gotten an official diagnosis for whatever this is (which is why I'm calling it "whatever")

My dad is hoping that they'll let him continue working if he goes down to part time.

This is going to suck, I know my uncle's medical bills were astronomical, I dont know how my dad will be able to pay for my mom's medical stuff, his medical stuff and my medical stuff together, and pay off the house and all the assorted junk that we've bought and are still paying for.

This is just what we did not need. Especially since my dad has always been scared that he'd die at the same age as his dad and brother did. (they both died at 54) My dad has at least gotten past that age (he's 68 now) But, I dont think he wants to die the same way his brother did.

Tomorrow is my one year anniversary of being diagnosed with MS. I guess it's only fitting that any other bad medical stuff would happen this week too. Now I can hate the entire week and not just tomorrow's date.