The ICD

In November of 2007 Nick was at PCMC for a scheduled check up. Things seemed fine. We came home. About 10 days later Our cardiologist, Dr. Cowley called us and told us that some of nicks EKG/holter monitoring results looked very... sporadic... spastic... irregular. He told us he wanted Nick back down in SLC in a week for a heart Catherization to see if there was something that they could do to make it more regular.

It was a general anesthesia thing, and they sterilized the room they used just in case they needed to use it as an operating room. (comforting thought?)

The procedure was supposed to take anywhere from 1-4 hours. At 6 hours they told us that when they had given Nick's heart tiny dosages of adrenaline type drug it fibrillated a few separate times for more than a few seconds. They felt that it would be in his best interest to implant in him a cardioverter defibrillator (pacemaker/defibrillator). Since he was already there and under anesthesia, they suggested doing it then. So, 4 more hours later little Nicholas was wheeled out of the "operating room" and up to recovery.



It was kind of amazing. 1 1/2 years prior to this, August 2006, Nick had been scheduled for this exact surgery. He had been prepped for surgery, had all the tests done and was ready for the word "Go!", when Dr. Cowley spoke with me and told me that it was a hard thing for him to tell me, but that he just didn't feel right about having the surgery done. For months the team of cardiologists (and we) had been planning on this surgery. Dr. Cowley asked me if I was OK with that and all I could say was yes. If he felt that it wasn't the right thing then we would go with that. There were countless people praying for these miracle working specialists to have inspiration and to know what to do, so we would most definitely go with his feelings.

I can't say what might have happened if they had done the surgery then, but we are so grateful that these phenomenal doctors listen to not just science but GOD. In Nov. 2007, it seemed to be the best option, so that worked out for us.



We had a little trouble with the ICD the morning after it had been implanted. It needed some fine-tuning. It shocked Nick while he was awake and seemed fine. In all actuality, the machine did what it was supposed to- Nick's heart had fibrillated- but Nick hadn't felt the effects of the fibrillation and ideally he should be passed out before he receives a shock or else it feels like he's just received a hard kick in his chest. Poor little one was scared half to death and afraid to move for a day or two because he thought it would shock him again if he did. They changed the parameters on the device and so far things have been mainly good.