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What does it mean when your CHF is at 15% and at stage 3 renal failure? Father is age 91 but living independently. His mind is still sharp as a tack

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@Timbuktu: I wish I could touch the 'like' button a thousand times!
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Amarjitkaur, periodically someone asks a similar question. I can understand the desire to know how long someone (including us) will live, but I think there's another way to address this issue.

On any given day anyone of us could be involved in a fatal accident whether at home or on the road. We could contract a contagious disease, or experience any number of catastrophes that could cause imminent or impending death.

If you knew when she would die, how would you live life differently? Do that now so that there are no regrets when it does happen.

So I say live your life to the fullest, enjoy your mother while she's here and make every day worthwhile for both of you.
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Amarjitkaur, I expect your mother's doctor has already refused to give you an exact answer to that question? If so, he or she isn't being obstructive: it really is impossible to say.

As your mother has managed to get this far, although she is still ill, you are at least out of the worst danger zone because her risk of having another heart attack is now less than it was - the first week or two are the most dangerous if I remember correctly. From here, how long she lives depends on so many different factors such as:

the underlying cause of her heart attack
her general physical condition
her willingness to co-operate with recommended therapies
access to medications, plus their suitability for her

At first sight, the thought of kidney and heart function being only 20% is extremely alarming. But there is much more to those figures than just the bare numbers. If you look up "CKD stages" you will find lots of good information explaining how kidney function is measured and what the test results mean.

Similarly, the 20% for her heart function probably relates to the "ejection fraction". If so, 20% is severely reduced but it is, believe it or not, liveable with for quite a long time.

I don't know if you will find this thought comforting, but when your mother has reached or is reaching the advanced stages of heart and kidney disease the thing to do is to focus on her own personal sense of wellbeing rather than worry about what lies ahead and when the worst may come. Many things can be done to relieve her symptoms and keep her comfortable.

Are you her primary caregiver? Where is your mother living?
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my mom is 81 year old she had a heart attack three weeks ago doctor told us her kidney and heart only working 20 percent .how long she will live.
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My husband has been very unwell and his heart was 15%he has been on medication for the last 3 months and now it is 35% and he is so much better will he get better still in time or is this a good result
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my father passed away back in February from chf and renal failure I was asked by his doctors to put him on dialysis and tube down his throat to help him breathe he had said never to put him on any machines so I had to put him on a morphine drip he passed 12 hours later very difficult decision
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my moms heat was only functioning at 15%, when she died. Heart disease has gone through 4 generations in our family. With that low percentage maybe 2 years and that's stretching it. On the day my mom, she got up and walked 2 miles as she did each morning, came home showered and went to the salon to have her hair done, she then got dressed and went to a funeral talking with the family after funeral she looked like the picture of health. After the funeral she went home and cooked her dinner for later that evening (it was still on the stove we got to home after she died). After preparing her dinner she then got dressed again and picked up a friend and drove to Louisiana for a church service in her honor. No more than an hour into the program, her heart failed and she died that night. It was that quick, but she was active until the night she died. She too had congestive hearth failure and would retain fluid, but she was on water pills and that helped a lot. God kept my mom, and we know, because the doctors said the things she was doing on a daily basis that she should have not been able to do, because her heart was so weak. She was 76 years old at time of death. She also had a defibrillator.
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my father had open heart surgery a year ago and two stents ten years ago. over 40 years with diabetes and his heart is functioning at 15%. His kidneys are failing him and his heart is not holding the dialysis. I need a specialist for a second opinion from a speciaist in the United States as he is not presently being treated in the u.s
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Wow! That sounds like the diagnosis my dad was given 2 years ago just short of his 91 st birthday. He lived another year and half. Be prepared to help make his life easier such as a lift chair, scooter etc. My dad aldo needed to move into assisted living a couple of months after his diagnosis. But he continued to live each day fully up until he passed. Cherish every day you have left.
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These questions as to low ejection fraction and what it means in terms of your life are best asked of your cardiologists. There could be co-morbidity factors and other issues that no one here can address in part because we don't know your medical histories or conditions, but also because we're generally not medical people.

Those who are could still only give general advice without knowing more specifics for you, and it's not fair to put them in the position of giving advice that could be relied on when they don't have access to the full medical history or other current conditions that affect your outlooks.
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Rosie, most of us here are just like you and have no medical training, but the numbers don't sound good, do they ,so why would you distrust what the doctors are telling you?
As for dying any day, that's probably true for most people who make it to 89. Cherish the time you have left together and do whatever you need to make him happy and comfortable. Have you considered hospice care?
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My 89 years old dad was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure and heart working at 15%. Given 6 mos. to a year or die any day. Please tell me if this is true???
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Hi, may I have advise what to do to improve a 15% heart function? I actually don't know what to do next, please anyone send me advise? Thank you very much.
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age61 male have heart function of 15%have a pacemaker with a pacemaker with defillator what are we up against?
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Glad to hear that!
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Its been more tham a yeat mow sice my dad got that diagnosis. He is still going but he isnt as active as he was. Still he is with us with active mind. He lives in assissted living now. Kidney funct6 did improve.
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That is one reason whomever is doing the caregiving, they should go with the patient to the doctor's offer to be an extra set of ears and to ask questions that the patient might have not thought about answering.

To get the best information, contact your Dad's primary doctor who will be receiving reports from the cardiologist. No two cases are ever identical.
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the percentage numbers you are talking about were obtained from a test called an echocardiogram.Normal is greater than 55%,it basically lets you know how well the heart is pumping,especially the left ventricle. I am surprise your father is able to stand with out passing out with an ejection fraction of 15% but the body can be remarkable and adapt up to a point.If he is driving, stop this NOW! Most anything at this point can happen, to still have his mind is great ,love him while you got him, keep him safe,I don't think he would be considered a candidate for a kidney transplant but then the kidney failure is probably related to his decreased cardiac function, I don't mean to sound doom and gloom but he is 90, has his mind and obviously a family member that cares about him which is so much more than a lot of elders have.I would only treat him medically, keep him comfortable and safe and take good care of yourself.
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my brother who is in his middle 70's was just told his heart is working 15% & his
kidney are not working well. what do we have to look forward too?
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I was told my heart was working at 15% and I might have a year to live after surviving a AAA aneurism , kidney failure, pneumonia and infections to the lungs and bladder. That was 2 years ago. Now my heart is at 35% with proper medication. I feel like the luckiest person alive although I could drop dead anytime.
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I am not sure on the DNR order on him I know he didn't have when Mom first took hers out years ago. But he signed that for her at the memory care place so maybe he has one now too. We have talked about it before but it's been a while. He always manages not to awnser. I know my Mom has one and his will and finances are in order. He did mention recently that he wants to be cremated but didn't know if my Mom would have wanted the same thing for herself and knows she can't be asked now without just saying she'd do what he thought best. That bothers him, too. .

The hardest thing on him is in April he had to put Mom in a Memory care facility. It is one door down from the bldg. he lives in so he has been going over 2x a day since then. He was walking with a walker but we recently got him a scooter to make the trip easier. Mom does not remember anything for more than a second but does know him and we kids. Leaving her can be very difficult especially for my Dad. she always wants to go along, berates him because he can go and come as he pleases and she can't. She can get quite nasty about it and loud. Whenver the caregivers come over she becomes as sweet as pie and they say she is fine once he leaves except asking about when he will be there again. They tell her soon and that satisfies her. I can put into perspective her getting upset but I know he feels very quilty about it. He always was so protective and took such good care of her since her dementia first appeared. But he can't handle her care anymore and that is hard on him too.

A friend of my sister-in-law who is a hospice worker said the less my Dad has to do for self care the better in terms of living longer. But then others told me as long as he can do self care he should be encouraged to do so. He wouldn't give it up easily anyway. He's an independent spirit. Not sure how we should best help and support.

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I am not a doctor, so really I'm not qualified to advise. I do know that 15% capacity lets you know that he may go into arrest, but there is no way of knowing when. The hardest decision is if he wants CPR if he goes into arrest. If he doesn't want that, has he prepared a DNR order? It is so hard to watch our parents decline and know there is little we can do about it beyond prepare for the crises. Has your father discussed with you what he wants. If you don't have a DNR order and living will, it would be a good time to discuss it with him if you don't think it would upset him too badly. You may never need them, but they are good to have on hand if you do.
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