Cardiac fears dispelled... almost... mostly

Wednesday (June 9th) we were able to meet with the cardiologist, who specializes in the electrical system of the heart, to discuss and clear up any confusion we have had around the prior diagnosis of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW).  The conversation started with him explaining the detailed reasoning behind her diagnosis, which still remains as far as he is concerned.  We have no clue where the prior confusion of it being dismissed came from.  Despite that we were very encouraged with the conversation.  Ultimately WPW is not all that harmful or scary when you know you have it.  Since Malia is known to have WPW we will be able to take effective steps (medication) to alleviate the risk of issues over the next 3-10 years.  We also have the prospects of Malia getting ablation surgery, prior to the age of 10, which can completely eliminate WPW if successful.  Also from the conversation we learned that the chances of WPW being passed on genetically are only about 2-3%.  Alison and I will both be tested in the coming months to determine whether either of us have it.  All in all, we left that conversation extremely comforted and pleased that WPW is not as scary as we thought.  Especially in light of her not having had any issues related to her hear since her atrial flutter was resolved when still inside Alison.  There's a good chance she could not experience any issues from it.  Woot!

Hold that thought....  Also while there we asked the doctor if they would be ok with taking her nose tube out (used for feeding and medicine) on the off chance that it would help her eat better.  The doctor agreed to try it out for a few feedings and either leave it out or put it back in.  So we were pretty excited about that opportunity and then called after almost every feeding.  Upon calling in the late afternoon we get the news that she was eating about 70%, but not full feedings.  Not so great - nose tube to go back in most likely... AND...  in the afternoon, just hours after us leaving and having our that great conversation with the cardiologist regarding WPW, we get news that Malia had an episode of Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) where her heart rate was around 280.  Thankfully the medical staff was able to resolve it fairly quickly with the use of ice packs on Malia's face (Vagal maneuver).  Not having had any heart issues since pre-birth and having just had such a great conversation with the cardiologist this was definitely a challenging irony for us.  Adding to the mental stress was the fact that there was discussion 2 days prior of increasing her heart medicine dose due to her weight gain - which had not taken place until shortly after this episode.