Saturday

Leap day

Leap day now means more than an extra day in February at our house. On Feb. 29, 2008, Nick received his first "therapy" shock from the ICD (outside of the hospital). Nick was standing in the front room watching a kids show on TV with Paul and Andrew, Josh and I were in the other room and all of a sudden we heard a thud and then a second later some crying. Normally this wouldn't alarm me too much because boys are boys and there are noises and cries, but it was a one person cry (which usually means 2 boys are NOT just arguing) and that's what alarmed me. I ran in to investigate and found Nick on the floor crying. I picked him up and probed 6 year old Paul for answers. Apparently Nick was just standing there and suddenly fell. He hit his mouth on the table (or maybe bit his lip?)and was beginning to bleed. I asked him if he had received a shock (from his ICD) and he said no. He told me that his head just wasn't feeling good and he fell. Josh and I suspected that he had passed out and then been defibrillated by the ICD so we took him to his room and manually sent a Medtronics reading to PCMC and called cardiology at the same time. Sure enough, according to the reading, Nick's heart had been beating 400 beats per minute. (that's not a typo) His heart went into ventricular tachycardia and fibrillated and caused him to pass out and receive a shock. (He only didn't feel it because he was unconscious.)Since we're 3 hours from the hospital and he seemed to come out of it OK, they told us to up his meds, keep an eye on him, and send them some more manual readings more frequently.We are so thankful that Nick has this pacemaker/defibrillator in. That situation could have been fatal. So often we feel so bad for him that he has to have it in him because it's awkward and protrudes, is unattractive, and a little painful for him, but on a day like yesterday... you think of it differently.I tried to explain what had happened to him and then later asked him if he could tell me what he thought had happened. This was his sweet little 3 1/2 year old reply:

"My heart was beating really fast. It made my head get really tired like this." (he lay down on the floor with his eyes shut tightly)"My little computer said 'Hey! Wake up!' and my heart said 'Oh! I better get back to work!'"

That pretty much sums it up. So not only was it a calender leap day, but a day that Nick's little ICD had all of our hearts leaping!

1 comment:

Wendy said...

Hi Darla,

I'm pretty new to the heart group, but I read Nick's story last night and had to tell you what a little miracle he is! What a scary experience for him and for you!!! His commentary on what happened was truly adorable, though! :)

It's nice to visit your blog and read more about his journey. I'll be keeping your little guy in my thoughts and prayers!

Heart Hugs,

Wendy (& Emma, too!) ~ 2-years-old, TOF (2nd OHS rescheduled for 3/14/08), 6q25.3-qter deletion

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