Basically, just another blog
I’m deeply ashamed of myself for not blogging in so long. Twenty days, for those of you keeping score. As in, just a day shy of three full weeks. FOR SHAME.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to start in earnest now. Maybe tomorrow. In the mean time, I leave you with this. Kisses!
A few weeks ago, I blogged about our most recent visit to the pediatric cardiologist with Veronica. We were really thrilled because her EKG in the office showed no evidence of WPW anymore – something that had always been obvious on EKG in the past. They had us come back to get a Holter monitor attached for 24 hours, just to be thorough. So about two weeks ago, we did that.
Bean’s doctor called me last Friday to let me know the results, and they were a mixed bag. On the positive side, there were no arrhythmia’s of any kind. But the bad news is, the evidence of an accessory pathway did show up intermittently. In other words, she does still have WPW, although the intermittent nature of its appearance on the monitor means that the accessory pathway is most likely weakening. It might still go away on its own, someday.
Needless to say, at first I was pretty bummed. However, the doctor was optimistic. First, since she stopped taking heart medication three years ago, Veronica has never had any episodes of SVT or other arrhythmia. Second, as mentioned, the intermittent nature of the evidence of the pathway means that it’s probably weakening. He felt that all we needed to do was continue as before, and have her come back again to be checked out next summer. Further, he didn’t think that surgery was necessarily indicated next summer, even if the WPW is still present. He actually said that if the condition is still present when she’s a teenager, at that time we might consider the ablation that we had previously discussed with other doctors in the practice.
So overall, the prognosis is good. While I was a bit depressed and let down at first, on further reflection I’m actually feeling pretty positive about this. Honestly, every day that Veronica is alive is really a gift. I know that sounds ridiculously melodramatic, but let me just tell you…after you’ve stood in an emergency room hallway, watching eight people surround your three-week-old baby on a giant bed, trying desperately to find a vein where they can insert an IV to give her medication to slow down her heart, beating a wild 300 or so beats a minute; after you’ve watched in horror and disbelief as paddles are applied and her little body jerks wildly as they try to re-start her heart, which they finally slowed so much it stopped; after you’ve seen your baby strapped to a cart and attached to many machines rolled down the hall away from you to a waiting helicopter that you can’t ride in, to go to the regional children’s medical center; well… After all of those things and more, when you see that same little girl at four years old, happy and healthy and funny and creative, it really does seem like every day with her is a blessing.
Therefore, if we need to take Veronica to the cardiologist once a year until she’s 18, or have a Holter monitor every year, or even give her medication again at some point, I’m not going to complain. I’m just glad she’s healthy, and that at least she doesn’t remember any of those horrible things that I’ll always remember.
A few minutes ago, the awesome-as-always @dooce posted these two upates to Twitter:
That made me laugh really hard, because I was raised Catholic, and it seriously warped me. OK, that’s not the REAL reason. I mean, yes, I was raised Catholic, and it did warp me just a little bit. But the reason I laughed was because this was the kind of question I used to drive the teachers crazy with in CCD.¹
In fact, I remember once asking specifically what would happen if a person took Communion, and then vomited. Our entire class was both horrified and fascinated by the teacher’s colorful description of how a priest would have to (SKIP THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU HAVE A WEAK GAG REFLEX OR ARE VERY SQUEAMISH) pick through the vomit, find what was left of the communion wafer, and then have it buried in consecrated ground.
OMG, y’all. That is some seriously spooky stuff right there.²
¹CCD, for those who don’t know, is religious education that all Catholic children who don’t attend Catholic schools are supposed to get every week until they graduate from high school. Ours was every Tuesday night, and afterward we had pizza for dinner and would watch “Happy Days” and “Laverne and Shirley.” The classes were boring, usually. Except for that night when I asked about the throwing up thing.
²No idea if it’s true, actually. Wikipedia was not helpful on this subject. I always thought it sounded a little bit too dramatic to be real.
