Well Alrighty Then...

As you may remember, we've discovered Chris has something called WPW Syndrome (and if you don't remember, you can read his story here). Well, he's had four "episodes" of his heart racing in the last three weeks. You know, I wasn't too terribly worried after the first one. A little worried, yes, but not a lot. After the second one I thought, "Hmm." After the third one, I realized that each episode increased my worry and I started wondering what was going to happen next. The first three episodes lasted just a couple of minutes each.

The fourth one, which was last Friday, lasted for 25 minutes.

Well, I figured it was time to touch base with the doctor and let him know what was going on. Since these episodes still weren't troubling Chris, my expectations were that the doctor would reassure me that this wasn't enough to worry about. After all, we're no where near the 2 hour episodes he mentioned in the office. But we were also above the one episode a month thing he mentioned too. I figured I'd give him the details and he'd assure me we were still in "let's keep an eye on it" mode. I was calling him to ease my mind.

The doctor was out on Friday but I talked to his assistant, who said I'd get a call back Monday. He still wanted me to explain what was happening though, and I did. Again he said the doctor would call me back. He also said if Christopher gets lethargic or complains of his chest hurting, he needs to go straight to the ER.

Okay.

Well, I'm thinking to myself, that's just a precautionary note. It's not likely to happen. I still think (hope) that's true. But, I thought, this is also the kind of thing his caretakers need to be aware of, just in case. I had already made sure his school nurse, teachers (school and primary), etc all knew about the situation. That was mainly so they would know to record an episode if he had one (I'm keeping a log). Now I got to tell everyone "Hey, not to worry, but if you ever see these symptoms, please rush my child to the ER."

My plan to be comforted was not working so great. Still, I figured the assistant was just covering all bases and a call from the doctor would reassure me.

Today the doctor called. After I explained what's been happening and he asked me a bunch of questions I didn't know the answer to (like "Do these episodes stop suddenly or gradually?" - a question I never thought to ask Christopher), he basically tells me what's been happening is "concerning."

Now, the word "concerning" was in the middle of a big ol' sentence, but heck if I can remember that sentence because my mama bear brain heard one word: Concerning.

That word flipped a switch. It's the switch that makes a mother worry, no matter what. I keep telling myself the worse-case scenario is this relatively non-invasive, low-risk surgery that will solve the problem. I know Chris is going to be fine. The mama bear in me is only a little comforted by this. Anyone have a solution to this? Because it's completely non-productive to worry over it and there's no point making myself crazy. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The doctor decided he wanted to monitor Christopher's heart for 24 hours, in the hopes of capturing an episode. He wants to see exactly what's going on. If they can't capture an episode that way, they may do some other monitoring thing that lasts 30 days. I don't know anything about that one. I only know about the 24-hour one. Cuz here it is:

I took him straight after school to get hooked up to this (called a Holter monitor). He'll wear it for 24 hours (sleeping, school, everything), then I'll take it back and they'll analyze the data and get back to me in 3-5 days. I was given a little log where I'm supposed to write down the time of meals, going to bed, waking up, and activity - all things that affect his metabolism and heart rate.

It's hard to know what activity to write down for a five-year old. I'll write down recess and wrestling around with his brothers. But what about spinning around in circles off and on for ten minutes while I'm at the bank? Does that count? What about when he's in bed but not asleep and keeps getting up to get drinks and go to the bathroom? Does that count?

The instructions that came with the log say to write down anything that elevates your heart rate. THE LOG IS VERY IMPORTANT! the pamphlet says. But what we're really trying to do here is capture an episode, right? This is a monitor they use for lots of different heart conditions. How picky do I need to get?

I'm erring on the side of caution. I go back and forth between thinking they're going to think I'm a crazy, anal mother putting down things they couldn't care less about, and worrying I'm not being accurate enough and it's going to mess up the results.

Don't even get me started on the fact that most of the hours he'll be wearing this will be at school. I'll get to trust other people to get this right for me. Mama bear is very excited about this.

Christopher, as always, is pretty easy going about the whole thing. He's being careful with it (good thing - replacement cost = $1300 and I got to sign a form saying I'd pay up if it breaks) and he doesn't seem particularly bothered by anything. Even that 25 minute episode didn't faze him. His biggest worry was sleeping with the monitor. He was afraid he'd roll over on the monitor and break it. I assured him he wouldn't. (He won't, right?)

So, yeah. That's that. I'm trying not to worry. I keep telling myself, "Stop worrying! He's going to be fine!"

.

Well, maybe tomorrow I won't be worried. Maybe I just need to sleep on it.