Has anyone you know had a long, tough battle with heart disease?

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My mother you turned 77 last month has had a long hard battle with heart disease. In 1998 she had a series of heart attacks that was misdiagnosed as heart burn/indigestion (which unfortunately happens more with women than with men).She was only expected to live a few weeks, when the doctor discovered that most of the heart muscle was dead (basically she has been living on 1/3 of her heart). He advised us to call hospice in; after discussing it with my 2 sisters, we decided not to. Well, 9 years later, with many doctor visits, and even more tests and a few hospital stays, she's still with us! However as of yesterday she's back in the hospital. I took her to the doctor Monday because she felt like she had a bad cold, they put her on antibiotics to ward off bronchitis. Yesterday she wasn't breathing too well so her doctor put her in the hospital. They did an echo cardiogram today, and the doctor said that her heart function was extremely poor, worse than they had expected. He said as of this moment her prognosis isn't good, he won't put a time line on it because she's managed to hang on this long, he's not sure what will happen. He also said that she is right now at risk for sudden death, which scares me and my sisters. Her heart rate is too low and her blood pressure's staying a little low, she has fluid around her heart and liver. She's been through so much and she's so scared herself. We're just having to wait and see what happens next. Has or is anyone having a similar situation?