Rewind about 2 months and we are at a routine physical exam at the doctors office for Olivia. Here I'm going to put a plug in for routine exams--which I previously thought were fluff. The doctor hears a heart murmur (which is, from what I understand, nothing to worry too much about most of the time) and decides to do an EKG, just to be safe. The EKG showed some abnormalities, so we were sent to see a pediatric cardiologist to get her take on it. After seeing her, they found that Olivia has (now had!) a syndrome called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which is a condition in which there is an extra electrical pathway/circuit in the heart. This extra pathway can lead to episodes of rapid heart rate, which can sometimes be pretty dangerous or fatal if it doesn't get taken care of. So, we scheduled her for the procedure at Primary Children's Hospital to do just that. We like things taken care of.
We arrived at 7:00 a.m. Thursday morning, the procedure was started at 9:00 a.m. and she was done at 3:00 p.m. 6 hours, with 3 catheters (one going through her neck and two through her groin) making their way to her heart to "cook" the extra pathway with radiowaves. Only, during the procedure, they discover that she had TWO extra pathways--pretty rare we're told. But. . . then again, we always knew that she likes to be different. And rare is different. :)
So . . . just to re-cap: 6 hours, 3 catheters, 2 extra electrical pathways, 1 heart.
And, she got to go home the same day.
(Gushing about to occur.) Are you kidding me?? Doctors can go in, fix a persons heart and they can go home and sleep in their own bed that same night? Why, yes they can.
Here is a diagram of what they did during the procedure (the doctor must've known I'm medically illiterate and would need pictures):
Here is our 'post-operative' Olivia:
And our 'post-post-operative' gal:
And tomorrow, she is allowed to run, jump and play like all those other kids out there. Now, THAT is a miracle of modern medicine.
13 comments:
Yes indeed. Amazing. When I told my mom that Olivia was home sleeping in her own bed, she said, in her classic Faye voice, "You're kidding!"
Way to go guys!
I'm so thankful for modern medicine!!! Glad she is all fixed up too!! She looks soooo much like your mom to me in the last picture!
That is a miracle. So glad it went well Shar.
Wow, that is amazing that it went so smoothly and quickly. Now if the "paying for the procedure" part only takes a day too ...
WOW! I'm glad everything went so well. Sorry to hear you were having any problems in the first place. She is one cute girl.
Wow, I'm glad she is ok! At least she didn't suffer at all. Cute pictures you took of!
gush gush gush!!!! That was intense!!! So glad that story had a wonderful happy ending:)
So happy that Olivia is ok!! What a wonder and blessing to live in this day and age. I think we all had that same reaction, when we heard that she would be sleeping in her own bed. I couldn't believe she came in to say hi that very night!!! AMAZING! Wonderful news and GREAT pictures-- of course!!!
What a miracle! Brought tears to my eyes!
Oh my! I'm so glad eveything is okay! Did they explain how it was never detected before now? But, atleast it was and she can get back to life!
Oh my goodness! My college friend has that same thing. I was at his apartment when his heart stopped beating. It's a miracle he's alive today. What a blessing they found it early. Glad the surgery went well.
Shar, she is so gosh darn pretty! I'm so glad she was taken care of by those smart doctors! When you told me about this during my bridals, my heart just sunk. I wished I could run up to her and give her a big squeeze! But it seems like she's doing well. :) So glad!!!!!
Oh my goodness, I bet that was scary! I'm so glad to hear she's doing well.
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