1/26 8:30pm
Mike called me at work and said he was in the ER with Christsia. Her heart reat was 290 BPM, and had been for three hours by that time. He said she came to him crying after playing outside. She said her heart was hurting and she threw up. I got to the hospital about 8:00pm and walked into the scene below.
They said they had tried five or six things to get her heart to a normal rate but it wasn't working. They said they would give her adonesin which stops her heart for six seconds!!! They did that (see pic below). Her heart rate came down to a normal pace of about 115 BPM. They are said they would transport her to the Children's hospital downtown for more tests and to meet with the cardiologist. She has shown signs of a fast heart rate a few times over the last year of two, but we thought it was from playing outside....like every other kid. Prior to those two years it could have been happening and we didn't know it because she couldn't communicate it to us. Scary!!
Wed Jan 27th 2pm
Christsia is in good spirits. We talked to the cardiologist today. She said that they need to determine how often she has the heart irregulairty, Supra Ventricular Tachycardia (SVT). They have some EKG equip they can send home to keep monitoring her. They also need to determine if something triggers it (physical activity, etc). I personally don't think it will happen again for a month or two, so I'm not sure what good sending home EKG equip will do.
Meanwhile, they are going to test her thyroid today and do an ultra sound of her heart. They said this issue is mostly caused by an extra node in the heart firing when it shouldn't. We need to meet with a Cardio Electophysiologist, probably today. He will discuss the procedure that can be done to go into the heart and find the node and laser it off. They said it is possible that they can give her medication for the rest of her life to keep it in check and avoid the surgery, but that doesn't really solve the problem.
Wed. Jan 27th 10:45pm
Using the results of the ultra sound the Cardo Electrophysiologists were able to narrow down which type of SVT Christsia has. There are 11 possible types. The two types she could have are: 1) AV node reentry, or 2) AV reentry. Both of them are caused by extra firing in the heart...attempts to overpump. The only difference between the two types is that one is continual firing inside the node and the other is outside the node. The plan is to do surgery next week to first determine which type she has and then correct it by ablation (to vaporize or evaporate) i t. They basically get access to the heart with a probe through an artery from the leg to pinpoint the issues and singe it.
Meanwhile, because the increased heart rate is not a constant issue, they allowed her to come home until the surgery. They gave us 4 or 5 things to try on her in the event that she has an SVT attack again. Unfortunately last night, the ER tried all of the 4-5 things to no avail and had to resort to using medicine to stop the heart for a few seconds. So, I have no confidence that any of those methods will work. On the other hand, I don't expect that she will have an attack within the next week so I am not overly concerned.
The surgery was scheduled for Feb 16th. Below is a picture of the room.
Just after surgery. Poor little thing!!
She had 3 entry wounds in one leg and 2 in the other. After she came out of anesthesia, she had to lay straight for 6 hours while the wounds began to heal.
Her teacher came to visit her in the hosptial - very nice!! She brought a card from the class.
Christsia was happy to see Grandma when we got home and called Grandpa to tell him all about it. She has recovered perfectly and was back to her normal self in no time!! What a blessing!
Wed Jan 27th 2pm
Christsia is in good spirits. We talked to the cardiologist today. She said that they need to determine how often she has the heart irregulairty, Supra Ventricular Tachycardia (SVT). They have some EKG equip they can send home to keep monitoring her. They also need to determine if something triggers it (physical activity, etc). I personally don't think it will happen again for a month or two, so I'm not sure what good sending home EKG equip will do.
Meanwhile, they are going to test her thyroid today and do an ultra sound of her heart. They said this issue is mostly caused by an extra node in the heart firing when it shouldn't. We need to meet with a Cardio Electophysiologist, probably today. He will discuss the procedure that can be done to go into the heart and find the node and laser it off. They said it is possible that they can give her medication for the rest of her life to keep it in check and avoid the surgery, but that doesn't really solve the problem.
Wed. Jan 27th 10:45pm
Using the results of the ultra sound the Cardo Electrophysiologists were able to narrow down which type of SVT Christsia has. There are 11 possible types. The two types she could have are: 1) AV node reentry, or 2) AV reentry. Both of them are caused by extra firing in the heart...attempts to overpump. The only difference between the two types is that one is continual firing inside the node and the other is outside the node. The plan is to do surgery next week to first determine which type she has and then correct it by ablation (to vaporize or evaporate) i t. They basically get access to the heart with a probe through an artery from the leg to pinpoint the issues and singe it.
Meanwhile, because the increased heart rate is not a constant issue, they allowed her to come home until the surgery. They gave us 4 or 5 things to try on her in the event that she has an SVT attack again. Unfortunately last night, the ER tried all of the 4-5 things to no avail and had to resort to using medicine to stop the heart for a few seconds. So, I have no confidence that any of those methods will work. On the other hand, I don't expect that she will have an attack within the next week so I am not overly concerned.
The surgery was scheduled for Feb 16th. Below is a picture of the room.
Just after surgery. Poor little thing!!
She had 3 entry wounds in one leg and 2 in the other. After she came out of anesthesia, she had to lay straight for 6 hours while the wounds began to heal.
Her teacher came to visit her in the hosptial - very nice!! She brought a card from the class.
Christsia was happy to see Grandma when we got home and called Grandpa to tell him all about it. She has recovered perfectly and was back to her normal self in no time!! What a blessing!
4 comments:
That sounds so scary! I hope she is doing much better now. Your poor family has been through allot.
Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us. Your family has been in our prayers. I'm glad she is doing better.
Oh my goodness! How very scary....I'm so happy to hear she is doing well now. You've sure had an eventful 2010 so far...I hope it calms down for you now!
I could hardly look at these pictures because it is hard to see her with all the tubes, etc. I am so glad things turned out well for her! We love you guys!
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