We just spoke to the Rhythm specialist. She wants to get him out of this rhythm by this afternoon. She said the medicine they gave him earlier this morning helps prevent this arrhythmia but doesn't do the best job at getting them out of it. The doctor this morning told us he would be on the meds a couple days and then as a last resort shock him... Then later this morning this big cart of machinery comes rolling up. It just doesn't seem fair to have all this crap hooked up to this little guy. He is still so tiny, I can't even imagine how strong he is, he has gone through so much so far. I can't stand thinking about this afternoon.
They are going to sedate him and put some pacing wires through his nose and set them behind his heart. They are going to try to pace the heart and then get it back into the normal rhythm. She said this might be hard to do because the top chambers of his heart are beating 3 times faster than the bottom times. It's called an arterial flutter. She said they might have to shock him to 'reset' his heart. It does not sound very fun, but it with the way his heart is working right now there is a bunch of blood swirling in the top right chamber, this could cause clots, which could cause strokes. She said the clots usually take 24 hours to form, but they can be pretty bad news. We are both nervous about this shocking business but it does seem to be the lesser of two evils. They will sedate him so he doesn't feel anything, so that is a little more comforting.... It's still scary though. This place is very good at drawing out the tears, we have both done our share of crying this morning, but we need to stay strong for our little man. He is putting up with so much in this first month of his life. He is going to be one tough cookie.
We just spoke to the Rhythm specialist. She wants to get him out of this rhythm by this afternoon. She said the medicine they gave him earlier this morning helps prevent this arrhythmia but doesn't do the best job at getting them out of it. The doctor this morning told us he would be on the meds a couple days and then as a last resort shock him... Then later this morning this big cart of machinery comes rolling up. It just doesn't seem fair to have all this crap hooked up to this little guy. He is still so tiny, I can't even imagine how strong he is, he has gone through so much so far. I can't stand thinking about this afternoon.
They are going to sedate him and put some pacing wires through his nose and set them behind his heart. They are going to try to pace the heart and then get it back into the normal rhythm. She said this might be hard to do because the top chambers of his heart are beating 3 times faster than the bottom times. It's called an arterial flutter. She said they might have to shock him to 'reset' his heart. It does not sound very fun, but it with the way his heart is working right now there is a bunch of blood swirling in the top right chamber, this could cause clots, which could cause strokes. She said the clots usually take 24 hours to form, but they can be pretty bad news. We are both nervous about this shocking business but it does seem to be the lesser of two evils. They will sedate him so he doesn't feel anything, so that is a little more comforting.... It's still scary though. This place is very good at drawing out the tears, we have both done our share of crying this morning, but we need to stay strong for our little man. He is putting up with so much in this first month of his life. He is going to be one tough cookie.
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