Recently, we have been monitoring a heart condition that Tessa has which has presented itself in the past six to nine months. It is not life threatening, but it causes her to have episodes of her heart racing over 200 beats per minute at random times for no apparent reason. She has learned how to stop the episodes and could live with it if she chose to. The general term for it is SVT or Supra Ventricular Tachycardia. We started with our Primary care doctor who referred us to the Vanderbilt Pediatric Cardiology. They gave us a heart monitor that Tessa was to keep with her at all times and with the goal to try to capture an episode. Within a month, we were able to capture an episode to verify that the condition was indeed what they suspected.
Because her episodes were quite frequent, radiofrequency ablation or catheter ablation was recommended to destroy the abnormally conducting tissue in the heart. This procedure has a very high success with very low risk and she could be rid of the racing episodes completely. So we talked with her about it and made the decision to go ahead with the procedure.
She had that procedure done this morning and is doing very well. We were a bit nervous because they have to first locate where the extra circuit is and then they go in with several catheters over one artery and several veins and burn the spots where the extra circuit is so that the rhythm can no longer go that way. When they found the spot today, it was right next to the av node, which increases the risk. However, we trust the surgical team who have that situation in about half of the cases they do.
It is called specifically AV nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT), or atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia This is a type of tachycardia (fast rhythm) of the heart that originates from the top chambers of the heart (supra). AVNRT is the most common regular supraventricular tachycardia. AVNRT occurs when a reentry circuit forms within or just next to the atrioventricular node. The circuit usually involves two anatomical pathways: the fast pathway and the slow pathway, which are both in the right atrium. The slow pathway is the one typically targeted for the ablation.
Thankfully, it all went well and was successful with no complications. We are so grateful for a great children's hospital here with skilled doctors and staff. Tessa is feeling good and will be coming home in the morning. She will have to take it easy for about a week then can resume normal activities.
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| Picture of the entrance of the children's hospital as we walked in at 7am |
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| Tessa and I waiting for her to be called back. (Eric took the picture) |
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| Tessa trying to wake up from the anesthesia just after the procedure |
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| A few days before her appointment, she kept talking about getting balloons in the hospital, so I surprised with some balloons. It made her happy! |
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| I also picked up a little gift in the gift shop just for fun. |
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| It was a little big-eyed stuffed penguin. It hurt to move her neck this direction so she just turned her eyes. |
Our view outside our room window
2 comments:
Glad the procedure went well. What a trooper you are Tessa! Hope your recovery is quick and you feel better soon!
I knew she was going to have the procedure, but didn't know it was now. We are so glad that she is doing all right. We love you Tessa. It will be good not to have those scary spells anymore. We love you.
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