This is SUCH a long story, but to be fair, it has happened over the course of 2 years. I'm now finally getting to a little more recent events. In summer 2017, I visited the electrophysiologist for the first time. He told me that if I was going to have any heart issue, this was the one to have. He explained it a lot better and told me basically I was born with an extra pathway in my heart. It's nothing that I caused, I was just born with it. He told me that I had two options. We could go ahead with the ablation or we could try medication, since both the episodes before were when I was not on medication. He said that a lot of people my age respond well to medication. So I went back on the blood pressure medication, that can help keep your heart rate lower as well.
My anxiety has gotten a lot better following that. I thought that I would respond to medication well and only every so often do I have a bad day and mild anxiety attacks. To be honest, I was not wanting any invasive procedures done unless I needed it. I wanted to put off the ablation if at all possible at least until I was in my 30s. Arbitrary really, but it made sense in my head.
A little past mid-January, I had an evening where I was feeling a bit off. My heart rate was kind of going a little fast and I couldn't sit still because it was making me nervous. An episode of SVT ended up kicking off around 11:15 and I took my flecanide and per my cardiologist's orders, I stayed home for 30 minutes to see if it would stop on its own. It wasn't stopping after vagal maneuvers (where you bear down - it can sometimes help) or an ice pack to the head (can sometimes shock your body out of it) or medication. So we called my mom-in-law and she came over so that Nick could drive me to the hospital and we didn't have to pay an ambulance bill.
I got to the hospital about an hour after the episode started. I wasn't freaking out at all. I was way more calm than I thought I would be. My heart rate was 160 when they took my vitals in triage. It was beating regularly, but of course, not in sinus rhythm. They got me back to a room after trying a modified vagal maneuver that didn't stop it. The ER doc was younger and he put the sticker pads for a defibrillator on me (which has never happened). He reassured me that he had never had to use them but it was a precaution. I had never had those put on me and that was definitely scary. They gave me a small dose of adenosine and it popped me into sinus rhythm and my heart rate went down. Nick has never been with me when they give me that and he said it was freaky to watch. It was a really busy night in the ER and we didn't leave until 4:30. Nick and I were both completely exhausted. Also I was nervous about getting the flu because the flu is really bad here this year. But overall, it was a very mild bout.
At this point, I knew that I would have to have an ablation if I wanted any semblance of a normal life. My SVT, so far, is not the kind that can be stopped by me. Vagal maneuvers don't work. So I will always have to go to the hospital and get adenosine. I personally do not want that for the rest of my life. I know the ablation will help my anxiety and it will stop these disruptions that we cannot plan for. Plus the bills that inevitably come from a trip to the ER. I am ready to start college in the fall (again) and once I finish and find a job, I don't know that I could hold one down if I have to duck out on a whim because my heart rate is through the roof with no warning.
I reached out on Facebook and found out three people I knew had had an ablation. My mom's cousin had SVT and had one 10 years ago, (this one is a doozy) my husband's mom's cousin's daughter had SVT and had an ablation at 16 and 18 and is now 35 and works out regularly, has kids, and is doing great, and a fellow blogger had one episode of SVT and had an ablation 7 years ago and is doing wonderfully. All of these stories definitely made me feel better. I have found that talking to others really helps calm me down.
I had an appointment coming up with the electrophysiologist about 3 weeks after my ER trip and the nurse there told me to just keep with that appointment. I went on February 12th with an ablation in mind. Honestly, I knew I would be upset, but I could not stop crying. It was like 3 hours of crying. My doctor reassured me that if I weren't crying, it would be so strange. The nurses were great too.
My next post will be all about the ablation. :)
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