In mid-December I posted “You Can Run But You Can’t Hide.” How true. Recently I learned that I have heart failure. It isn’t cancer, but it can be fatal and I’ve already started on a drug regimen that I’ll have to stay on for the rest of my life. According to a cardiologist this type of heart failure follows a 30/30/30 rule. One third of the people will get worse and probably die within a year. Another third of the people will stay the same or have slight improvement. The final third will improve somewhat but rarely back to their original condition.
Now I’m going to back up and explain how this unfolded.
The chemotherapy for diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is known as R-CHOP. I finished that treatment in September. In October I started to rebuild strength and stamina. It was going well, but in mid-November I noticed that my endurance was fading. All the exercises took longer. I didn’t think much about it. In December I noticed changes in my sleeping heart rate. Over the course of a night there were times when my HR was low and times when my HR was normal. On the night of January 3rd 2026 I woke up several times gasping for breath. This is something like sleep apnea and it wasn’t new to me given my abnormal breathing experiences related to mesothelioma. In the morning I had two notifications from my Apple watch. The first notice said my HR was below 40 for ten minutes. The second notice said the same thing a half hour later. When I woke up I web-searched this and learned that a HR of 40 means you should go to an emergency room. The HR and breathing difficulties made me think that I might be having a heart attack, so off to the ER I went. I was seen immediately and tested for HR, blood pressure, and abnormal heart activity. All three were well beyond normal but there was no evidence of a heart attack. I thought I would just go home, but instead I was admitted for observation. I stayed five days and had dozens of tests, including a CT, echocardiogram, and cardiac MRI. It was the echocardiogram that delivered the bad news. My ventricular ejection fraction measured 22%, whereas normal would be 55%. The diagnosis is heart failure.
This has been a devastating experience. I’m not permitted to do any exercise at all for the next three months and I’m rapidly deconditioning. Because I am on a blood thinner I was advised to never ride a bicycle again and to not do anything that may result in a blow to the head. Such a blow could cause a stroke or other brain bleed that would likely do permanent damage. Now my main activity is sitting around and doing nothing. Prostate cancer and mesothelioma are advancing. This is a bad situation. I don’t have much more to say right now.
