A viral infection that settled in Phoebe Hensley’s heart has created a health crisis for the 36-year-old Emporian.
Hensley has been a patient in Stormont-Vail Regional Medical Center in Topeka for two weeks, while medical personnel work to flush about 100 pounds of excess fluid from her body to give them an opportunity to decide how to treat her damaged heart.
Hensley’s husband, Tim, was in Emporia on Saturday and took time to talk about his wife’s illness.
Phoebe Hensley had started feeling badly last summer. For a time, she thought it was “a monthly deal,” Tim Hensley said. “Then she thought it was early menopause.”
By October, she had seen a doctor, who seemed certain her problems stemmed from diabetes.
“So they kept doing tests for that,” he said. “They’ve done tests for about everything you can think of here.”
She went to see a doctor about once a month until January.
“Then she was going about every other week, it seemed like,” he said. “… Things had just gotten worse. The fluid kept building up more and more.”
The flesh on her legs was tight from all the fluid, and she was having difficulty walking, in addition to the other symptoms she was experiencing.
Dissatisfied with her lack of progress, she consulted several other doctors, and finally went to the Flint Hills Community Health Center to talk with a friend, Lynn Bridges, who is a physicians’ assistant there.
Bridges sent her to an endocrinologist in Topeka, who prescribed several tests that she could have done in Emporia, which she did.
Two weeks later, with the test results in hand, she went to Topeka, where she was admitted and underwent her first echocardiogram. The results came back in two days.
“As soon as it came back, they knew what it was,” Hensley said.
The diagnosis was cardiomyopathy, a condition that weakens the heart muscle.
The Hensleys learned that she apparently had contracted a virus that had damaged her heart. She may have contracted the virus as long as a year ago, Tim Hensley said.
Her heart had sustained enough damage that it had become incapable of pumping enough blood to supply her body.
“It was pumping out 15 percent (of the blood) and pushing the rest of the fluid back,” he said. “That’s what caused the fluid build-up.”
If she were 70 or 80 years old, the condition could be attributed to clogged arteries, he said; his wife’s arteries are not clogged, but her heart has sustained extensive damage.
“I just talked to her a little bit ago, and she said she had lost 70 pounds since she went in,” he said on Saturday.
Medical personnel drew off 5 1/2 liters of fluid when she initially entered the hospital, and the remainder of the loss has been accomplished with a diuretic. The dramatic loss of fluid, however, caused considerable pain for Phoebe Hensley, so doctors slowed the fluid-removal for a few days. The standard protocol now has been resumed.
Phoebe Hensley’s damaged heart is straining to maintain her, and she also is receiving medication to help strengthen it. Because of the swelling caused by fluid, her heart is distended.
“The heart was stretched out kind of like a balloon,” Hensley explained. “(Fluid loss) leaves it stretched out and makes it hard to pump.”
Sometime this week, she will begin medication that should help her heart ease back to its normal size and make it beat more easily.
Doctors, however, do not anticipate that she will regain the heart function she has lost.
“The last guy that came in said that 10 percent of her heart is working,” Hensley said. “He said the rest of it will not come back. She won’t be able to work any more.”
The Hensley’s 8-year-old daughter, Bridget, has been staying most of the time with her father and occasionally with her grandmother.
Bad Ol’ Bern’s restaurant is holding a fundraiser on Tuesday to help pay medical expenses for Phoebe Hensley, who does not have health insurance.
In the interim, Tim Hensley is running his own business, Woodcraft Construction, as well as Phoebe’s Café and Cakes, and helping his wife’s employees by doing payroll and other financial transactions. The restaurant and bakery remain open for business.
“The girls are running it,” he said. “It’s for sale.”
abc123 (anonymous) says...
Good Job Lynn Bridges for getting her some expert help!! Pheobe get well and don't worry about your business, health and family is more important!
April 2, 2007 at 2:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mmstormont (anonymous) says...
The business is actually in the process of being purchased and we give Phoebe our absolute best!
April 2, 2007 at 6 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hottopics (anonymous) says...
My goodness, thanks for running this story Bobbi. If we dont know, we cant help. Prayers are with you and your family, Tim.
April 2, 2007 at 6:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
gazette_reader (anonymous) says...
What a sad situation. Phoebe is such a sweet and talented woman. I really hope that she'll be able to bounce back from this enough to do the things that she enjoys doing.
April 2, 2007 at 10:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bdprotheroe (anonymous) says...
I've known the Hensley family for years. My best wishes and prayers go out to them all.
Brian Protheroe
San Francisco, CA
April 3, 2007 at 3:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )