Thanks for checking in our sweet little Zoey! In honor of Thanksgiving this week I want to let you all know how much your love and support has meant to us. There is no way we could be getting through this without all of our friends and family. Zoey, Flikk, and I are more thankful than you will ever know for all of your support. Most importantly, we are thankful that our Zoey is strong beyond words and such a fighter. She gave us a good scare, and we aren't in the clear yet, but we are hopeful that she will be back home with us soon.
A brief explanation of how we got here...
On Thursday Nov. 16th I noticed that Zoey wasn't eating well. She wasn't eating much and she was a little more fussy than usual. I didn't think much of it at first and we spent the day visiting her family in Highwood. She seemed perfectly fine and her usual happy little self. When we got back home around 5 pm I became really concerned because she still wasn't eating much and started to look very lethargic and extra sleepy. I knew something was wrong and I rushed her to the nearest ER a few blocks from our house. Flikk and my dad met us at the hospital as soon as they could, which helped tremendously because I was terrified. Once there, her condition quickly became much more serious. Her heart rate was at 260 beats per minute for well over an hour and her lips, hands, and feet became a very scary shade of blue. The doctors and nurses there did everything they could until the transport team from Lurie Children's Hospital came. They tried giving her medicine to slow down her heart, but after many unsuccessful doses they had to shock her. The shock put her heart back in rhythm and once she was more stable they transported her to Luries CCU (Cardiac Care Unit). Flikk rode in the ambulance with Zoey and once they got to Luries (at around 10:30 pm) her heart was still stable.
A short while later Zoey's heart rate spiked back into the 260s. The amazing doctors and nurses did everything they could to help stabalize her (including shocking her again) but at around 3 or 4 am they made the decision to basically put Zoey in a coma. She was given medicine to keep her paralyzed and was intubated, which eventually stabilized her heart. Machines are now doing all of the work for her so her little heart and body can get a good rest. Over the weekend Zoey slowly but surely started to improve. All of her labs, scans, ultrasounds, etc. showed improvement and were pointing in a positive direction.
The doctors and nurses have been absolutely amazing and I know Zoey is in the best place possible right now. She is being cared for by the most compassionate and brilliant people and we are so grateful. The cardiologists have diagnosed Zoey with SVT, supraventricular tachycardia, which by itself is a very treatable (with medicine) condition where your heart beats in an irregular rhythm. The reason Zoey is in such a critical state is because this condition has been going on inside of her for some time. She had been able to tolerate it and function normally until her heart just got too weak and couldn't tolerate it anymore. By the time we caught it, her heart was already failing her so the doctors are working to get her heart strong again and back to normal function.
One of Zoey's doctors explained the plan of action perfectly....Right now Zoey is on lots of machines and medications that are doing all the work for her and we can think of it like an onion. One layer at a time they will peel off one of the supports to see how she is able to perform that work on her own. With time between to monitor and evaluate her progress, they will continue to peel off layers of support until she is off all the machines. She will need to take medication once we get home and we will be trained on how to recognize all the signs that she is going into SVT so we can keep this under control and get her help quickly if/when she needs it in the future. She still remains in critical condition but we are staying positive that she will come home soon and be stronger than ever.
I will try and post updates as often as I can. Zoey, Flikk, and I appreciate your continued support and positive vibes.
CaringBridge is a nonprofit social network dedicated to helping family and friends communicate with and support loved ones during a health journey. Learn more about CaringBridge.
