So Blessed

Almost two months ago I had a procedure done called an ablation. An ablation is a procedure used to treat serious, irregular, or rapid heart rhythms. Here is a summary of the procedure. They advance several flexible catheters into the femoral vein or jugular vein and move them towards the heart. High-frequency electrical impulses are used to induce the arrhythmia and then they ablate (burn or destroy) the abnormal tissue causing the bad rhythm. My exact diagnosis was, paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT). This is a rapid rhythm of the heart which involves an accessory pathway. We discovered this condition when we moved to Columbus and I started playing basketball. When I would exercise my heart would start racing really fast and I couldn't catch my breath. I would also have smaller episodes throughout the day. At first I thought I was just super out of shape after having two kids so close in age. After wearing a heart monitor for a month they discovered that my heart would start into a bad rhythm and beat over 220 beats per minute. The length of the episodes would vary but when I had an episode with my girls walking home from the park I knew it was time to get it fixed. The main short term risks of this condition are passing out. They do have medications however I didn't want to manage medications through any future pregnancies. I was very, very scared to get the procedure done however we knew it was the right thing.
The procedure lasted several hours and the most painful part was getting the IV since I have such bad veins. They even had to call in the specialist with the ultrasound machine and even he missed. I was awake during the procedure (they did give me some type of sedative to make me sleepy) and I did feel some really weird sensations in my heart. I do remember the doctor yelling,"Stop, stop, stop..." He apologized after he realized he scared me. I am sure they forget we can hear what is going on. We were at the hospital from about 7am until 4pm. Thanks to wonderful friends for watching our sweet girls and for all the meals while I recovered. Jake was able to take some time off work and he even passed up an amazing golf opportunity that weekend while spending extra time with the girls ;) My heart has been feeling great and it is so good to exercise without feeling like my heart is out of control!
The picture I posted is of one the most beautiful sunsets that I have ever seen. It was even more amazing in person! I put this picture with this post because I love all the rays of light that come through the dark clouds. It seems whenever we go through a hard time the "rays of light break through". Cheesy I know, but I really do feel blessed that everything went well and so grateful for modern medicine that can perform these crazy procedures:)