Artist's Notebook: My Adventures With Heart Failure
In 2008, after recovering from breast cancer, New York artist Victoria Behm contracted what seemed to be a bad flu. But symptoms persisted beyond the usual time. She eventually found herself in an ER, gasping for breath. Then she was diagnosed with a disease she had barely heard of.
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First came fever
My first symptoms of the whole heart-failure journey were a lot of sweating and shivering. I visited our family doctor, Dr. Klein, who confirmed there was a nasty version of the flu circulating around New York City. I assumed I had caught it from the feverish, moaning kids at the grade school where I teach art part-time.
Eleven teachers, multiple artists, and most of my friends had the bug too. Three cases developed into serious pneumonia. There's no treatment for a bad flu, you just ride out a few miserable weeks.
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