The Beginning

This is a blog telling the true story of Cara and M Larry Dixon and his heart problems. Thank you for reading our story.

In March 2008, we realized that Larry was starting to become out of breath while walking short distances. We went to an urgent care to get him checked out, and as they were doing tests on him, I was sitting in the room next to the nurses station. I overheard a Dr call someone and say "I have an obese man in my office and he is having a hard time breathing, isn't that normal for an obese person? ok thats what I was thinking" and she hung up the phone. The next thing I know, Larry is back in the room and she walks in and says there in nothing wrong, its normal for a person his size, and he is released to go home.  A few days later, his father had some heart problems and was in the hospital. We were talking to his family in the hospital and I started telling them of Larry's problems walking from room to room and being out of breath. As they were listening his dad said "Larry those are the same symptoms that I was having before I was put in the hospital." After his dad said that, we go to his Dr. and he immediately admits Larry in to the hospital. He was there for a week and had been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure and was sent home with a massive amount of medicine.

He is then told to go see a specialist Dr. Trimer at Barnes Jewish St. Peters, and Dr. Trimer said he had a heart murmer. That Dr. then referred him to Dr. Timothy Smith at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis and Dr Smith implanted a difibrilator/pacemaker. Larry was then referred to Dr. Gregory Ewald at Barnes Jewish and Dr Ewald controlled Larry's heart problem with a regimen of medicine.

In September 2010 Larry and I got married and went to Cancun for our honeymoon. During our trip he was sick with a cold. In November 2010, Larry got pnuemonia which turn made his heart fail to pump correctly. Larry was sick from then until May with lightheadedness and dizziness. He was sent to multiple Dr's and no one could figure out what the problem was. He then went back to Dr. Ewald in May 2011 and we then found out that Larry's left side of his heart was not pumping and that he needed an LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device).

If you are interested in hearing more of the story, please follow this blog. There is a lot more to come.

Skipping ahead to June 26th, 2012 Larry is currently listed as a 1A at the top of the heart transplant list waiting for a heart transplant, we could get a call at anytime.