Literally Keeping The Beat

Alistair was a bit under the weather this last week. Hindsight being what it is, I think it was a bug of some kind that affected him differently...low temps (like 93-94 degrees), headaches and fatigue. But in the hub bub of figuring it out, his pediatrician listened to him and didn't like the way his heart sounded. So much so that she sent us to Seattle Children's ER for an EKG, even though Alistair had just had one on Monday, and to have it read by a cardiologist before we went home. On Monday, Dr. Lewin had noticed some "noise" on his EKG, almost like a stutter step in some of the lower beats. He was going to investigate further, but didn't think it serious enough to not allow us to go home.

So while we were in the ER, Alistair had another EKG...the kid still had sticker marks from the last one Monday, even with 2 showers that week! They saw the same thing Dr. Lewin saw, but they were also interested in how his heart beat while he was hooked up to the monitors for 3 hours. If you ever listen to Alistair's heart beat, it is very alarming. I have to remember to tell care providers who haven't had Alistair before about his heart condition as I had a doctor once who turned white upon listening to him as I am quite certain she was thinking, "oh my God, what am I going to tell this mom!!??"

So between the noise and the visuals, they decided Alistair needed a Halter Monitor to measure his heart beat and rate for 24 hours.

So we went BACK to Children's on Friday for his halter monitor fitting and he got to wear it around the house mostly. He took it to his lacrosse game to show his team mates (he didn't play just to make sure he gets over his illness completely before school on Monday) and he wore it on the outside of his clothing to Costco. Now that the clock has counted down, we bundle it up and send it back to Children's. In about a week or two, we will find out what was recorded and go from there!

I am sure this is just the first in many more things Alistair is going to have to endure before the "big day." But like most things in his life, he takes it in stride and carries a healthy positive attitude!