Another complication for Nolan

Right after Nolan had the chicken pox (back in June, 2010), we noticed that his one eye was turning to the outside.  We took him to the eye doctor and he told us that his eyes are perfectly healthy, maybe it's just a reaction from the chicken pox and hopefully it'll go back to normal over time.  Unfortunately, it kept getting worse, becoming more frequent, and happening in both eyes as time went on.  Last summer I took him to a pediatric opthamologist in the Detroit area who told us that he would probably have to have surgery because he has a condition called exotropia.  We wanted to wait until we moved back to the US to have the surgery done.  We switched to a doctor in the Chicago area (giving us a second opinion as well) and set his eye muscle surgery up for August 24th at Central DuPage Hospital in the suburbs of Chicago.  Although I was nervous about having anything done to Nolan's eyes, the doctor assured me that this is a very simple surgery with very little risk.  What they do for the eye muscle surgery is make a small incision in the eye tissue to reach the eye muscles and then detach and reposition the eye muscles to straighten out the eyes.

We got to Chicago on the Thursday before his surgery for his pre-op appointment.  My mom had Lydia and we figured that Ethan could just play his DS and read during Nolan's surgery so he was with us.  Nolan chose to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings the night before his surgery.  We had to be at the hospital at 8:45 with his surgery being at 9:30.  We figured we'd be out of there between 9 and 12. 

Nolan was a trooper when they were preparing him for the surgery and had his penguin along for the experience. 

Nolan and his penguin ready with their hospital
bracelets (and necklace)

Starting to get sleepy from the medicine...

While Nolan was in surgery, we went back out to the waiting room.  I no sooner sat down and the lady behind the front desk told me I had a phone call.  The anesthesiologist was calling to let me know that during the anesthesia, Nolan's heart rate was very irregular.  Appaently it got really high, but, while I was on the phone with her, it normalized.  She was asking if he had every experienced that before and if he every complained about his chest hurting.  The answer to both was no.  He's always seemed to get tired easily when he's running around, but we didn't think much of it.  We thought that he was just a low energy kid who would rather be playing with legos than doing anything physical.  Either way, she said that she was going to call the pediatric cardiologist and get her opinion.  I really didn't think anything of it at the time.  Maybe it was just the anesthesia or just a random thing, but the pediatric cardiologist ended up wanting to take a look.

Nolan was very upset in recovery when I was able to go see him.  He wanted the IV out of his hand and his eyes were really bothering him (to the point where he wouldn't even open them for quite a while).  They were trying to get an ekg on him so he had to be still and he was not cooperating, which is why they brought me back to begin with.  I think anesthesia makes him angry!  Anyway, in the time I was back with him during recovery, I saw his heartrate get up to 150-170 a half a dozen times.  He was just sitting there, acting normal, and it didn't seem to affect him at all.  I was trying to stay calm, but I could see the nurses whispering their concern to each other.  After the pediatric cardiologist saw him and saw his ekg results, a echocardiogram was done (which ended up showing that his heart function was healthy and normal...thank God) and they told us that we were going to be transported to the Children's hospital in downtown Chicago in an ambulance.  When I went out to tell James, I finally broke down.  I could now believe that this is something wrong with his heart, not just a reaction to the medication.  They also told me that Nolan couldn't eat or drink anything else because they didn't know what they were going to want to do at the Children's Hospital (immediately I panicked and thought heart surgery!). 

James left with Ethan and took him to my sister's which ended up being within (long) walking distance to the hospital.  I waited with Nolan and rode in the front of the ambulance.  Nolan thought the ambulance ride and sirens were really cool...and then he fell asleep.  An eventful drive to the city for me!  People...MOVE OUT OF THE WAY when an ambulance is coming!  We got to the hospital, they had a room ready for him and the exams began.  The whole ambulance ride, Nolan's heart rate was normal.  About an hour after we arrived at the Children's hospital, his heart rate jumped up to 160 and was  between 160 and 230 for an hour.  He was sitting there like nothing was going on and telling the doctors and nurses to get out of his way when they would get in front of his Transformers movie.  At one point there were 8 -10 doctors and nurses in our room trying to figure out what was going on and trying to get Nolan to bring himself out of the high heart rate.  Around an hour Nolan ended up breaking out of the high heart rate when he was getting another iv line put into his arm and he got very angry and came out of it.

Dr. Tsao, who specializes in electrophysiology cardiology, finally explained to us that Nolan has SVT (Supraventricular tachycardia).  Basically his heart's electrical system doesn't work correctly and will beat really fast for no reason.  The doctor explained that it's like he's running a marathon when he's just sitting there.  Medication was the answer.  I was so relieved!  Although my child has a "heart problem," it could have been so much worse!  They wanted to monitor him on the medication and make sure it was effective, so we ended up spending two nights at the hospital.  The second day James brought Justin and Ethan to hand out with us and Jess came by after work.  As hard as it was for us to be in the hospital for those two nights, I can't imagine how hard it is for the families whose kids are there for long periods of time.  I thought about that every minute in that hospital (especially being on the cardiac floor!).  Nolan may have to go through it all in our family, but all of his illnesses, injuries, conditions are manageable and I am so thankful for that!  We are so blessed and I thank God everyday!

Nolan was still closing his right eye to see dsitances in the hospital

"Bonding" with his brother

Nolan's poor eyes!

Nolan dressed and ready to go home.  We finally
 got to go home at 3:30 on Sunday!

Hospital bracelets

The grasshopper in our car  that scared the crap out
of James on his way to the hospital in the morning.