Matthew's Heart...

About three months ago, I started looking for better Heath Insurance coverage. Matthew mentioned to me when I found a better policy with Farm Bureau that he was going to see a cardiologist before we switched policies just to rule out any heart issues…

Matthew went to an allergist almost two years ago because of his bad allergies and he was feeling out of breath throughout the day whither he was active or not. The Doctor gave him some medications and told him that he should go and see a cardiologist. Matthew decided that he didn’t really need to go because any time a doctor would listen to his heart they would flip out because they did not know his previous heart history. I never felt good about his decision not to go mostly, I am sure because I did not fully understand Matthew’s heart history either.

Matthew called me after his appointment with Dr. Anderson with the news that the doctor wanted to run a few tests in the next week. Matthew did the tests and Dr. Anderson wasn’t able to find out too much, so he told us that Matthew needed a Heart Catheterization. After I got off the phone with Matthew I started crying. I wasn’t ready for this. They scheduled Matthew’s Heart Cath for about a week later. We were able to find out from the Heart Cath that the heart surgeries he had as a baby still looked good and nothing they had done previously needed to be repaired. The doctor was also able to find out details in Matthew’s previous surgeries that we could not tell him. Dr. Anderson told us Matthew needed to see a rhythm specialist the following week. I was unsure why we really needed to see him but I just nodded my head and didn’t ask any questions.

We went to see Dr. Lizto (the rhythm specialist) the following week. We thought we were going in to see what options we had but after we met with him he told us he had talked with Dr. Anderson and this is what they were going to do. Matthew’s heart was beating too fast. They said he had aerial flutter. They were going to put him on Cummidum for at least 3 weeks (I guess that people with this condition are a risk for stoke and clotting) and then they were going to do a heart ablation. He told us that even with the ablation being successful that Matthew had an 80% chance of having to have a pace maker. It was a lot to soak in. Matthew headed back to work and I came home and cried.

Over the following weeks, Matthew became more nervous and scared of the possibility of having to get a pace maker and there was always that small possibility that something could have in the surgery. I just told my self he is getting the pace maker so deal with it. Matthew kept holding on to this 20% chance. Past history, the odds have never been good for our family so I wasn’t holding my breath.

Matthew had the Ablation 12 days ago. Everything went better than we could have hoped for. The surgery was only about 45 minutes when they told us about 1hr 30 min and he didn’t have to get a pace maker. Dr. Litzo told me that Matthew’s heart was now beating slower than they would like but that they would monitor him and we would go from there. Matthew will have to get a pace maker some time down the road but for here and now we feel very blessed. As they wheeled Matthew back into the room he had his hands in the air with his thumbs up. He was stoked. He didn’t want to have to worry about playing with the kids and them constantly having to make sure they didn’t bump or touch his pace maker… I am over whelmed with the thoughts and prayers