We've already established that I have 3 small children and 2 jobs...as does dear hubby. With this much going on it doens't take much to completely wear a person down. So, let me tell you about last Thursday...
My dear Scotland has a pace maker. We do home pace maker check every couple of months via the telephone. Last Thursday we did her check as normal; however, I got a phone call about an hour and a half later. The previous event of the night had already gotten me a little wound up, but that's neither here nor there. So, when the man on the phone pauses before saying hello and has an indian accent, I'm ready to hang up on this telemarketer. Thank God I didn't. He was from STL Children's Hospital.
Already stating what I had already known, that Scotland had a pace maker check done, he asks me if she's doing well. I reply that she was, but why the hell was he calling, since they've never called after any of the other checks. He procedes to stutter and pause while trying to tell me what the problem is. Let's just remember that my nerves are already frazzled and now he's telling me there is something wrong with my daughter's pace maker, you know, the little machine that keeps her heart running. No big deal, right?
As I'm about the scream at him to tell me what is going on and to get to the point already (becauses its like trying to get a story out of a 5 year old), he asks if she has any symptoms. No, she doesn't, but I'm not willing to sit back and wait for them. I ask if we need to head to STL asap. He tells me not if she isn't having any symptoms. He's gonna consult the "team" and call me back. Feeling much more at ease, yah right, I wait for another phone call.
Finally, he calls back and states that we will need to go to STL in the morning. They will call us at about 8 to let us know when to be there. I assume 8 means 8pm. At 8:45p I call them and he tells me that they will call at 8am. After I explain that we are 3 and a half hours away and that if they call at 8 am I can't be there before noon, we decide that we will just leave the house at 7 am so we can be there between 10 and 11, and they'll be ready for us.
So, we leave and get there just as we planned. They get us in and start the pace maker test. No one knows what it's doing and why. After about 40 minutes and consult from 4 people, they decide that the pace maker is using 3 times more energy than it was just 2 and a half weeks ago. There is a problem with one of the leads that goes up into Scotti's heart but it is still getting the job done. So what do we do...
Well, we're gonna monitor it weekly for the next couple of weeks to see what its gonna do. No one really knows whats causing the malfunction and/or if it will continue. More than likely they will have to replace the lead at some point. They hope it can wait til she reaches 40 lbs at least. This will allow them to put the lead into her vein and up to her heart. If it can't wait, they'll have to open up her chest again and go in that way.
I'm not sure how I feel about all this. I don't want to just sit back and wait, knowing something isn't quite working as it should. But, I also don't want to open her chest again unless we absolutely have to.
I guess we'll se what this Thursday's at-home check says. Keep your fingers crossed!!
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