Monday, April 16, 2012

3 AM - Back to CICU

This weekend has been great so far, Michael was chugging along and Zoey was getting some daddy time. Last night I asked Bryt if she wanted to come home for the night and get a shower in her own shower, get herself some new clothes, etc. But she strongly felt like she should stay there with Michael. That sounded good to me, I planned on staying with Zoey then dropping her off at daycare in the morning. Then heading down to the hospital. On my way home last night, I had a feeling I should stay at my moms with Zoey, just to make things a bit easier on me in the morning. So that is what we did, Bryt stayed at the hospital and Zoey and I stayed at my moms.

Around 2:00 am I woke up and had a feeling I should call my wife. I was very groggy and didnt want to wake her up so I just sent her a text. Little did I know she had just woken up and was about to have an anxiety attack. She woke up to feed Michael just in time to see his alarms start going off. His heart rate had jumped from it's normal 140 to over 240. Bryttney was confused and didn't know if that was acurate, we haven't ever seen him get close to this. Nurses rushed into the room and started putting ice all over his head. Michael was experiencing SVT (Supraventricular tachycardia), the electrical system in his heart was sending out too many signals and causing a 'flutter' in his heart. The top part of his heart was pumping faster than it should be and causing an irregular rhythm.  The cardiologist called for a 2nd opinion before starting treatment. Even though Michael had multiple nurses around him trying to get him out of this state, he was sleeping soundly. The extremely fast heartbeat did not seem to bother him at all.  Bryttney was starting to breakdown and called me around 3:00 am. I guess that is why I was prompted to stay at my moms house, so I could leave Zo without any issues.
I got to the hospital and they had moved Michael back down to the CICU. The nurses were drawing some blood and Bryttney was curled up in the corner of the room crying. I ran over and wrapped my arms around her, she couldn't talk or look at me or move. She was still kind of in shock from the whole thing. The doctors won't let her breast feed him because if this medication does not work, they may have to use a defibrillator on him and shock him back into normal rhythm. I think hearing that is what may have put her over the edge. I kept cuddling her and let her know everything would be ok. There were only two nurses at his bed and his heart rate is staying around 180 for the most part. After talking to the cardiologists and nurses I don't think he is in any immediate danger as of right now. He is somewhat stable and a rhythm specialist will be be by later this morning.

The medicine he is on is being given to him in 12 hour doses. The doctor said he will need to be on it for a couple days before they see if it's working or not. He seems to be doing good still, he is nice and pink and still sleeping peacefully. He didn't like the nurse poking him for blood, but she gave him some sweet stuff and it calmed him down. We are back in the ICU for a couple more days, we are both worried about him, but I think he will be ok. I am glad he was still here, if this would have happened at home we wouldn't have had any idea.  The reality of this situation continues to grow and scare us. We are both very grateful for the annoying alarms and the amazing nurses. The spirit is with us and I feel pretty calm about everything right now. I will continue to update as the day goes on.
Sometimes I feel a little awkward typing away on my computer during a time like this, but Bryttney and Michael are both asleep. The nurses are taking care of him and I know he will want to know how it all went down when he is older. I don't want to forget any of the details so I try to get them down as soon as the commotion stops. Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers, give your loved ones a big squeeze. I don't know how we would do this without family and friends holding our hands every step of the way.

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