Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The visit

We did good. Here's how our day went at Primary's:

I took Nick straight into cardiology and explained why we were there and while we waited for them to figure out who we were supposed to see, who should appear in the hallway but Dr. Cowley himself! He snuck up on Nick (who had his back turned) and once he had Nicks attention he loved on him a little with some big hugs and kind words. It was a good way to start the day.
Once we had some plans for our next steps, we went to register. Dr. Cowley walked with us and asked us to page him later if we ended up being sent home.=)
Next we took Nick into be examined by the EP team and to have his ICD interrogated. It turns out he had 2 "events" on Saturday. In the bigger one his heart rate was about 353 beats per minute which continued for 18 seconds.(Yikes!) They did a quick EKG and some other routine exam stuff, and soon we were sent to go have an echocardiogram done.
The echo took a while, which bugged Nick. The tech would leave for a minute to see if she needed any other pics, come back and take more and then leave again to see if there needed to be MORE pics. Nick got really frustrated with that and told me that when HE's the Doctor then HE'LL be the BOSS and he'll say "Don't take ANY MORE PICTURES!" =)
After the echo was another small exam. (it seemed a little redundant, but hey, do what you need to! Lets just take care of this kid.)
Then we were sent up to Same Day Surgery to check in. They decided to take Nick into the Cath Lab for a Defibrillator Function Test (DFT). It's not a procedure where they open him up. He had an IV and in the procedure they cause his heart to fibrillate while he is under anesthesia and they are there to supervise. They use a computer to kind of "program" the ICD and check it's perimeters and "energy" output. I don't know (and don't really want to know) how many times they did it, but I know that they had to make Nick's ICD shock him to set these perimeters and see at what levels it worked. The whole procedure took about an hour.
Then there was recovery, and a quick page to Dr. Cowley. Just as we were about to be discharged Dr. Cowley came in with his sweet secretary Barbara to say goodbye. He brought Nick a cute Elmo balloon and 2 of his favorite candy bars. I was so surprised. I thought it was such an "above and beyond" gesture. We are so blessed.
Nick was kind of a twerp~ he was still a little groggy from the anesthesia, but he hardly said a word to the doc and just sat there changing channels on the TV, kind of ignoring everyone. As the doctor was leaving though Nick yelled out "I LOVE YA."

So, to sum it up, the results are kind of like this:

We're not changing anything. We're going to try to keep going the way we have been and pray that he doesn't have more "events", but if he does, try to be thankful that the ICD is doing its job and remember that it is saving his life.
He's doing pretty good for the most part-- even though we still have concerns and some issues. He's a walking miracle and living proof that God can do things that man says are impossible.

6 comments:

twinzmama said...

I am so glad things are okay. What a brave boy you have to be so good throughout this whole process. What good parents you are for being willing to do whatever it takes! You are always in our thoughts and prayers!

Mp said...

I'm so happy that things went so well and that the ICD is doing its job, Dr. Cowley has done several heart caths on Brinley and we just love how honest and straight forward he is with the results, although the news he gives us isn't always the kinda news we'd like to hear...thanks for keeping us updated, we think about Nick often and pray for his little heart.

Hugs,
Mike & Family

Dana, Proud mommy to 4 said...

I'm so happy to hear things went well and are still going good. Still, as always, praying for him.

Erin said...

WOW!!! You guys are amazing and what a sweet little boy Nick must be. I am so impressed with his strength and endurance. I'm glad that he's doing well and that the ICD is working. We sure miss you guys and hope and pray that all continues to go well with your little family.

Melissa said...

I'm glad everything worked out. Miss you.

Natalie Walker said...

I've been out of touch with the world for a little while with Crew in the hospital too so I didn't read this until just now. What a tough, sweet little kiddo you've got. He's lucky to have you for parents. Just wanted you to know that we're thinking of you. I pray for Nick and your family every night.