This is going to be a long entry…sorry in advance! It is a health update for Kyle.
Earlier this month Kyle was diagnosed with WPW (Wolff-Parkinsons-White) Syndrome. For the last couple years Kyle has been having a racing heart rate at very random times. He could be sitting on the couch watching TV and his heart rate increase like he just ran a 100 meter dash. We tried to figure out correlations between when it happens to what he was doing, but it was very random. He would have gone to the doctor sooner, but he was nervous it could possibly discharge him from the Marine Corps. As a Marine, he did not want to do anything that would get him medically discharged, but his family I wanted him to get it checked out.
This last month his heart was acting up more often than ever before, so we decided he should go to the doctor. First he met with a Navy Corpsman, next he was sent to the surgeon for the company, then he was sent to Tripler (Army Hospital in Honolulu) to meet with a specialty doctor, and he was finally sent to an electro-cardiologist, Dr. Shen.
Abnormal pathways between the atria and the ventricles cause WPW. When signals travel through the abnormal pathway it stimulates the ventricles and causes the rapid heart rate. To cure WPW, Kyle needed to have surgery. The surgery itself was non-invasive thank goodness. Dr. Shen put a catheter through both femoral veins in the groin. He worked the catheters up to the heart and then mapped out the heart. This is done so they know exactly where the pathways are and they can make sure they are in a safe spot to ablate them. Then they start the ablation.
We showed up at Queens Medical Center at noon on the 22nd to prep for Kyle’s surgery at 2pm. They prepped him before 1pm, but luckily we had a TV and Scrubs and Everybody Loves Raymond to keep us busy until 2:45pm when they finally wheeled him into surgery. Usually the surgery takes about 2 hours to complete. I went to the cafeteria to get dinner, talked to family on the phone, and tried to stay busy on my computer. Around 7pm Dr. Shen stopped by the room very quickly and quickly told me that it was a tough surgery and they found two pathways, not just one. He believes they got one completely, but the other one may come back. Then I briefly caught something about afib and then he hurried away. Might I add that he is Chinese and is difficult to understand…most of the time. So I didn’t really think much of it.
Smiles BEFORE surgery
Watching "Scrubs". We thought it'd be suiting.
Kyle's IV. He did not enjoy this :( He had to keep it in through the night.
Around 7:20pm Kyle was wheeled backed to the room. Since they did not sedate him completely, he was awake and pretty coherent, but he still was a little out of it because of the medicine they gave him. Kyle then proceeds to tell me, “They had to shock me five times!” Um…excuse me?! A nurse came back out and told us that he went into atrial fibrillation five times throughout the surgery and they needed to shock him to bring his heart back to a normal rhythm. They ended up keeping Kyle overnight, but we got a private room, which was nice. We watched some Law & Order: SVU until they brought Kyle dinner and then we “slept”. Kyle was hooked up to the heart rate monitor all night so they could keep an eye on his heart rate. Every time his beats per minute went under 60 the machine would beep obnoxiously. It happened VERY frequently through the night. I slept on a chair that folded flat, but glad I was able to stay with Kyle.
In the morning after very little sleep. I think Kyle looks better than me and I didn't even go through surgery! ;)
We were released around 9am the next morning and headed home to try and sleep since we didn’t sleep well the night before. Around 10:20am Kyle put his right hand on his heart like he always had previously when is heart rate would sky rocket. I looked at him and knew. It was happening again. We immediately called the Dr because after surgery it should not have happened again. We got an appointment at 1pm and it had happened another three times. That’s more than it has ever happened in a day. Dr. Shen informed us that he believes Kyle has atrial fibrillation and that is why he went into it so many times during surgery. He had a predisposition to it.
We were fortunate enough to rush this surgery in time for Kyle to go to AAV School in California on January 7th. After surgery he was supposed to be good to go. Now, with his heart still acting up we aren’t sure if he will be able to go. He had a follow up appointment with the Doctor at Tripler and the doctor wanted him to wear an event monitor (tracks his heart rate) for two weeks and then check in with him. Two weeks is the 11th. That is four days after he is supposed to report. I am sitting in the room looking at Kyle just knowing he was screaming inside. We arrived in Hawaii October 1st and since then Kyle has not been able to be in charge of a platoon since he has not gone to school. If he can’t go to school in January, the next one isn’t until June. He desperately wants to go to school to learn and then come back and lead. Now back to the doctor’s office, I decided to speak up because I didn’t know if Kyle would. I asked the doctor if we could try one week on the monitor and if his heart is good he can go to school, but if not, then he will stay. The doctor agreed! We have an appointment on the 5th and are praying this week Kyle’s heart stays normal and doesn’t act up. Please pray the same thing! :)
Thank you family and friends who have been praying for Kyle, his heart, the doctors, and myself! We love you!
