I am participating in an Ambassador program on behalf of Influence Central and hosted by Bayer Aspirin. I have received compensation to thank me for my participation. All opinions expressed are my own.
I will never forget that day. It’s common for parents to miss it, the doctor said. It didn’t change the fact that it was happening.
A week earlier my 15 year old daughter had gone in to have her wisdom teeth removed. As they hooked her up to monitors they noticed her heart racing. Tachycardia.
Two days later we visited her primary doctor for an EKG. The results didn’t scream trouble, but there was a small “blip” that her doctor wanted checked out.
He made us an appointment at the children’s hospital in the next town over, for two weeks from that day. We didn’t make it that long.
The very next night we were in the ER and I was in a corner praying for my daughter to make it out of that room. That was the day my daughter’s heart changed my life. The day I will never forget.
Supraventricular Tachycardia, or SVT, is what she was diagnosed with in the ER that night. Her heart was racing well over 100 beats a minute for HOURS.
They gave her medicine to stop it, but it would start right back up. One medicine actually stopped and restarted her heart, a medicine she begged not to have each time they brought it in.
I choked back tears, held her hand, stroked her hair, and reminded her how strong she was and how quickly it would be over. As moms, we are often heroes for our child and that’s what was needed from me at the moment.
We were eventually transferred by ambulance to the children’s hospital where her upcoming appointment was. They monitored her, ran tests, and scheduled an appointment for an ablation procedure that she underwent two days before Christmas.
She hasn’t had a single issue with her heart since the procedure, and was given a clean bill of health by the cardiologist last month. While she is completely free of her heart issues right now, heart health has become even more important to us.
Sitting in the ER with her that night, every kind of thought went through my mind in a short period of time. Almosts and should haves.
While I wish to never relive that evening, I don’t want those thoughts to leave me. I want them to become dids and coulds. Cherish every experience with your loved ones, because they truly enrich our lives.
While SVT isn’t something we could have been prepared for, we can prepare for other heart issues, like heart attacks. Being prepared for those unexpected emergencies is as simple as carrying Bayer Aspirin.
In the event of a suspected heart attack, immediately call 9-1-1 and chew or crush and swallow aspirin as directed by a doctor.