an unusual and memorable leap day...

Now February 29, or Leap Day, is unusual and memorable in and of itself because it only happens once every four years. 

Our original plan for the day:
G especially was excited because it was her "real" half birthday, being born on August 29, and those who have summer birthdays in her class get to celebrate on their half birthdays.  She was going to bring treats (little toy horses that I found on clearance - since their class just got done reading Misty of Chincoteague), and I was planning on packing a special lunch for her.  S was bringing her to school and then heading into work for the later shift of the day.  The boys and I were going to hang out, possibly go to the library for "Leap into Reading" day, and I was going to make a meal for our neighbor, Miss K, who was having back surgery that day.  Our other neighbor, Mrs. L, was going to come over at 6 to watch the big kids until S got home so that I (and H) could go to small group meeting with s.i.l., C.

Whew!  Big day planned, and NOTHING on that list happened.  The day was definitely unusual and memorable though.


Why it was unusual and memorable for the kids:

We had a big ice and snow storm the night before and we woke up to LOTS of snow!  (first big storm of the winter, crazy enough!)  The ice underneath the snow made the roads really icky and they cancelled school, which is very unusual for the cities here.  It was G's first snow day!

French Toast for breakfast and Trader Joe's little pizzas for lunch to celebrate G's half birthday since she couldn't do that at school.

Auntie C, Uncle J, Pippin, and cousins K & G came over!  Unusual for the middle of the week.  This in and of itself made the kids ecstatic, but then on top of it, they got to play outside in the snow with their cousins and puppy ALL afternoon.

the snow easily slid off our aluminum roof (no kids were near at the time) onto our deck and steps and with a little shoveling and convincing, made a great...

...slide down the steps!  not quite the same as the snow mountains of my childhood, but so much fun to slide down on your butt or the sled.

literally hours of entertainment...along with making forts and a "snow pool"

H had fun watching the big kids from the window with Auntie C!

We then got to hang on to Pippin for a little bit longer (while J&C&K&G went to the gym) which our G really enjoyed as she cuddled up with him and read on the couch with him as her pillow.

In G's words, one of the best days ever.

Why it was unusual and memorable for the S & I:

Not the best day ever.  Short story?  S had heart problems (A-Fib), was admitted to the hospital, and had his heart shocked back into rhythm.  All VERY unusual.

Long story?

Last August, S had a day or two where his heart raced.  It was strange enough that he noticed, but not enough that it really bothered his activity.  And just about the time we thought he should call or go in to the doctor, his heart went back to normal.

Fast forward to the night before Leap Day.  After eating ice cream before bed, S noticed his heart racing again.  We chalked it up to being tired and very sweet ice cream and headed for bed.  S slept just fine, but when he got up in the morning his heart was still racing and he was very tired and a bit light-headed.  He checked on the school status and came up to tell the kids that school was closed for the day.  We were all getting ready, and S threw on some clothes and was going to head down to start on breakfast and then scoop the driveway.  But he got really light-headed again and tired and by the time he got down the steps he needed to sit down because he felt all flush and nauseous.  He had me listen to his heart and when I put my ear to his chest, what I heard was not a regular fast heartbeat.  It was all over the place and probably the strangest and scariest thing I have ever heard.  We both knew he had to go in.

He was able to get in right away to the Metropolitan Heart and Vascular Institute, connected to Mercy Hospital, which is within miles of our house.  I was going to call our neighbors to help blow out the driveway and come and watch the kids so I could drive him in, but S started to feel a little better and convinced me he could drive in himself.  I was not cray about this plan, but he would call me as soon as he knew what was going on and we could decide then if I needed to come and join him.

S met with a cardiologist who determined right away that his heart was in atrial fibrillation.   And since this was his second episode in less than a year, and also since his heart was not going back into normal rhythm yet, they would admit him to the hospital, do an echocardiogram to see if there were physical problems with his heart, then put him under anesthesia and shock his heart back into the right rhythm.

In the meantime, I had called our parents, and then s.i.l. C to let her know what was happening and that I wasn't going to make it to our meeting, regardless of the weather.  And after getting over the surprise of S being in the hospital (everyone was surprised at this unusualness, as this is S, who is only 33, healthy and fit and never hardly ever gets sick!), C didn't even hesitate and said "Do you want to come here or do you want us to come there?"  She sent S's brother J right over while she finished up a few things and then they all came and completely took care of the kids so that I could go in to the hospital to be with S.

At the hospital, when the cardiologist came in, we talked again about what was going on and possibly why.  There are 5 factors that they usually look for that can cause A-Fib.
   1.  genetic history - none, I confirmed this with S's mom when I called her
   2.  physical defects - none, as the echocardiogram came back clear
   3.  drugs and alcohol - no drugs and hardly any alcohol
   4.  diabetes - no problems with that at all, or a family history either
   5.  caffeine - well, S does consume this daily, but after telling them it was 350ml of coffee in the
        morning and a soda with lunch, they almost laughed as that is not much at all.
So while A-Fib is not uncommon, it is pretty unusual to have someone as young and thin and healthy as S have it with no apparent reason.  The most important thing at that point though, was to get it back to normal and take care of it in the future.  And that is what they did.  Thankfully showing me to the waiting room while they did it, they gave S propofol, which is a quick acting anesthesia that also leaves the system quickly (S joked with them that it was the Michael Jackson drug, and was out before he could say another sentence =), and then one 200 Jule shock that did the trick to put his heart back into correct rhythm.

For S this was an incredibly fast 15 minutes and although he felt beat up and tired afterwards, he was much better.  For me it was an excruciatingly long 15 minutes.  It was really hard for me to process this whole situation and grapple with the fact that for the first time I really had to worry about my husband.  It was once again a huge reminder that we are not in control, but it is God that is in control over everything and has a plan for everything that happens.  Even if it is unusual and we don't understand why.  Lots of prayer and holding sweet baby H got me through those 15 minutes (holding sweet snuggly babies is VERY cathartic), and I never was more relieved when the nurse came to get me and said that everything was just fine.

We waited for the effects of the anesthesia to wear off completely, we talked once again with the cardiologist about where to go from here.  He told S no caffeine and alcohol and perscribed him a med that would slow his heart rate and give his body a chance to correct itself if it should happen again.  Otherwise normal activity.  And that they wanted him to see their cardiologist who is a heart rhythm specialist in 2 weeks for a check-up.

And then they unhooked him, and sent us home (shock marks on his chest and all).  Everyone was happy to see us come home and that S was doing fine.  Rather than leaving right away, C fed us and then let us talk her ear off about the whole experience.  That was really nice as it gave us a chance to kind of decompress and wrap our heads around the whole very unusual day.

(big thanks to J & C and family for helping us out so much - you really helped us get through a very scary and trying and yes, unusual day)


...and now...the rest of the story (so far at least)
S had a good appointment with the specialist this week (of which I tagged along for my own peace of mind).  He has what they diagnosed as Lone Atrial Fibrillation, which is A-Fib without any apparent cause.  The good thing is this isn't a life threatening condition.  You can actually live with your heart in A-Fib, it just comes down to whether you can live with what your body feels like when it is in A-Fib.  Options to treat this are live with it, take drugs daily that chemically regulate heart rhythm, an ablation surgery, or the choice that S went with, a "pill in the pocket."  So he will carry meds that he can take if his heart goes into A-Fib again, but won't need to do anything until that happens.  (which we hope won't for a very long time if ever!)  They are going to have S come in next week for a stress test just to get a complete picture of his heart, and he will have to go in for check-ups every year as well.

So back to normal.  Which is great, but sometimes hard to do when something big like this happens.  But as time goes on and as S continues to feel good it is easier to be calm and accepting of this whole situation.  We thank God for the good health of us all and pray that he will continue to bless us with that!