"Me and my heart failure"

I awoke in the middle of the night on early October last year - I remember the date because it was my son and daughter in law's 20th wedding anniversary! My stomach felt really full and hard and very strange.  It was like nothing I had felt before and I sincerely hope I never feel it again.  At first I just felt a bit confused wondering what was happening but I had to get up because I felt weird and my breathing was becoming difficult.  When I took my blood pressure (I had purchased a monitor and an oximeter during Covid) it was 188/? (over 100) and my blood oxygen was 92 at the start of the night. I have no idea how low it eventually got. I woke my husband because I thought it was a heart attack and he immediately called an ambulance.  By this time I could barely breathe and it felt like my chest was full of fluid.  I was sure I wasn't going to be able to breathe at all very quickly and in fact told my husband in between gasps of air that I wasn't going to make it. I was terrified but in fact I think my husband was even more terrified.  It was awful and the ambulance seemed to take forever but it was probably only about 20 minutes.  I thought once they were there and I had oxygen, I would miraculously be able to breathe but of course that wasn't the case. My lungs were indeed full of fluid and the oxygen didn't really help although it did help a lot to know someone was there who knew what they were doing. 

I was taken to hospital and by then, my breathing was very laboured and I can barely remember being taken into A and E. However what I do remember is suddenly being able to breathe.  I don't really know what they did even now but I assume it was some sort of injection.  I then ended up in the HDU unit in Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy with the most wonderful nurses in the world. My husband was still with me and he had called my son and his family who arrived soon after - I remember my first words were 'Happy Anniversary guys!' I must have been feeling better!

I was kept in 5 days, the last few in CCU. I am eternally grateful to the staff for saving my life.