So many have you have asked about our daughter the amazing the fabulous, the beautiful Emma that I wanted to update you all on how she’s doing. About 2 weeks ago Emma was diagnosed with Supraventricular Tachycardia. It is caused by an electrical short circuit in her heart that randomly will cause her heart to beat at around 250 bpm. The normal heart rate for an active 6 year old is around 100. Her heart begins beating so fast that it cannot relax between beats or fill with enough blood to meet her body’s needs. Since it is completely random and not caused by her activity level (though she thinks it is, and we cannot convince her otherwise) it is really frightening for her. This has not been going on long, but we have been in contact with a cardiology team from Children’s in Seattle and due to the delayed onset of it we can know that it will neither lighten up or go away on its own. If we do nothing Emma will grow up with frequent visits to the ER (I'm talking around 2-3 per month. In these visits the ER doc's will have to STOP her heart with medicine that is not itself with out risks to her, so that it will start back into a normal sinus rythem. I personally CANNOT do this. I am not supermom nor am I great with needles of any kind in me or others.) to get her heart rate back down, but with the surgery that she will be having on Tuesday June 10th at Children’s Hospital in Seattle she will be completely cured. The surgeon, Dr. Terrance Chun, does this procedure 3-6 times a week and last year alone did it around 150 times. He has been doing it 150 times a year for 5 years at Childrens in Seattle alone. The procedure is called a radiofrequency ablation, which uses electrode catheters to find and destroy the tissue that is causing the rapid heartbeat. The tissues involved and the abnormal pathways causing the problems are invisible to the naked eye. The bottom line is that God is good to show us the problem now and how to treat it. Emma is very optimistic and so are we. She does NOT want to have any more IV's and personally I can't blame her. Please pray for an easy visit to Children’s as well as wisdom for Dr. Chun and peace for Emma, Scott and I. Since the surgery is on her heart there are pretty serious risks involved, so please pray that Emma’s heart remains uninjured throughout the surgery and that her surgery sites (there will be 3 Inserted through IV-like pathways in 3 major arteries) will heal quickly.
We are staying with my parents (in Silverdale) for a few days afterwards so Emma will have a peaceful place to rest and recuperate. We are hoping to really use this 1 on 1 time with Emma for all it's worth. We are planning a trip with her to the Seattle Aquarium and the Ol' Spaghetti factory, though she doesn't know it yet. We are just following the lead of CJ Mahaney in his great tips for a vacation to remember. Hopefully Emma will look back on this time not with fear, but joy in the time we spent with her. Maybe I will have to post some pic's of Miss. Emma and the creatures at the Aquarium.
Thank you so much for your love for our family and for your prayers for our sweet daughter.
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