Hospital stay #582

Ok so that might have been a little bit of an exaggeration but it really feels like we have been here and done this way to many times to count! Well, we are here at Primary Children's Hospital in the Cardiology unit yet again. Nate was born with a heart condition called Aortic Stynosis with a VSD, that was detected by his uncle, his pediatrician 2 weeks after Nate was born. Nate was given a blessing and told that his heart would be healed. Because of the faith of his family members and the will of the Lord, Nate did not have to go in for open heart surgery as an infant!

4 months after Nate and I were married he was admitted to the hospital for his 1st open heart surgery that was not planned. I thought that I was going to be widowed a couple months into my 22nd year of life! I cant even tell you how incredibly HARD it was to see my husband and best friend come out of a 9 hour surgery being on a heart and lung machine with a breathing tube in his throat.. I passed out in the ICU just moments after seeing him, I felt like I was starring at my husband in his casket! After a couple months of recovery and 30 lbs heavier (because of steroids) I had my husband back.

Almost 2 1/2 years after his surgery and 6 weeks after the birth of our adorable son, Nate was yet again unexpectedly admitted for his 2nd open heart surgery to replace the valve again. This time it was a mechanical valve as opposed to the porcine (pig) valve! Because of the new mechanical valve he now has to be on blood thinners for the rest of his life. This was supposed to be the cure all to his problems, but as of right now more procedures need to be performed!

So...... Nate has been having irregular beats called PVC's (pre ventricular contractions) and normally everyone throws a couple PVC's every now and then, but in Nate's case he is having a couple PVC's almost every other beat. It is concerning because this could cause sudden death! That brings us to this point. Today, March 27, 2010, early afternoon Nate was admitted to the hospital to have a procedure called an EP study and a echo through the esophagus, and then maybe just maybe he will need to have a defibrillator put in over his heart! The EP study means doctors will go in and cauterize the sections of the heart that are causing these irregular beats. Then they will do another study to check if Nate is at high risk of sudden death, if that is the case he will have the defibrillator put in.. So now we are just waiting! I will update soon.. Thanks for reading this oh so long post. Please pray that this works!