Again, we've been deferred for many obvious reasons of posting and updating our blog.  So here we go again.
     Lately, it seems that the MSA is taking a back seat to my heart as well as the excruciating and debilitating pain I've been experiencing.  The pain is in my neck shoots down to both arms.  I've recently visited a pain management doctor because my primary physician can't seem to be able to manage the pain.  I've taken cortisone shots, in my shoulder and neck--to no avail.  The most recent has been now morphine which basically seems to take the edge off but it causes me to have difficulty breathing at night.  My tongue has been somewhat swollen and I suffer from dry mouth.
     As for my heart, after an echocardiogram and blood work it seems that my heart remains pretty much unchanged from pre-op except for the repaired mitral valve.  My heart is still not working at our desired capacity of 45-55% (which is the norm) and it shows that the heart is still enlarged.  My new heart specialist feels that we should start these new meds so as to improve the condition of my heart.  The desired effects will not be known for at least 3 months.