"mum, my ticker's flipped again!"

Hello,

After "Run Rabbit Run" (my last blog entry, no idea where it came from by the way. But for someone who normally writes fantasy it was interesting to try a murder scene), I thought I'd write a little more about me.

Growing up in our house was a little different, for a time, it was not unusual to wake up and find a four foot oasis cross soaking in the bath tub. Mum is a florist and funeral flowers are just part of the job. I think most people would have thought we were slightly strange if they had walked into the house and seen the flower studded words of 'mum', 'dad', 'gran' or even a coffin spray lay in the hallway awaiting delivery and everyone keeping their eyes firmly on the dogs to make sure the flowers weren't stepped on. But for us it was normal and I suppose someone has to do it. When it comes to flowers, my mum is amazing and I have no idea how she does it. Being the daughter of a florist, people often think I too could whip up an arrangement or some sort of display but alas, my own creativity doesn't turn its hand to floristry all that well. That's definately mum's department (and I must admit it means that every year we have the best christmas tree and holly wreath on the street, even if I do say so myself!).

Aside from flowers, there was another unusual routine during my childhood that is still with us now. I was born with a condition called Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) which

"causes episodes of a fast heartbeat. Tachycardia means a fast heart rate. Supraventricular means coming from above the ventricle. During an episode of SVT, the heartbeat is not controlled by the SA node (the normal timer of the heart). Another part of the heart overrides this timer with faster impulses. The source or trigger of the impulse in an SVT is somewhere above (supra) the ventricles, but the impulse then spreads to the ventricles".

On average during an attack of SVT my heart rate would suddenly shoot up to 190-200+ beats per minute. Occasionally the shout of "MUM, my ticker's flipped again!" would ring throughout the house prompting me and mum to sit quietly and wait for the SVT attack to pass like the hospital had advised.

Mum spent a long time in hospital with me when I was really young and I must admit, I'm glad I don't remember it. The hospital eventually stopped my heart and used a defibrillator to re start it at a normal beat. We just thought it was a condition that I would have for life and that it wasn't particularly dangerous. Then, in November of 2010 I had an SVT attack that was different to the ones I was used to. When it started I was hit with a wave of dizziness that was so intense it nearly took me off my feet. My heart was racing at 180 beats a minute but the strength of my pulse was weak. SVT attacks start and stop really suddenly and without warning. Usually, for me it's painless but this time I felt like my chest was burning from the inside out. The chest pain stopped as soon as the attack stopped, but it was obvious that I needed to speak to a doctor and find out what was happening.

So off I went to the doctor who in turn sent me for an ECG (a test where they check your heart by sticking a ton of little pads to you and letting a machiene take a reading) at the hospital. When I got the results I was devastated. My SVT was not quite as harmless as we had been led to believe. It turned out that I had a form of the condition called Wolff parkinson white (WPW) syndrome and one of the possible effects of the condition was sudden death. I've learnt as much as I can about my condition since that day and the risk of sudden death is extreamly low but when you first get a diagnosis like that your immediate reaction is flat panic. I felt like I had been told I was going to die, and soon. I must admit it changed my responce to the SVT "attacks", armed with the knowledge that it could be deadly it does scare me now more than it ever has but when something like this is put on you, I guess you just have to get on with it. I really struggled to come to terms with my condition and sometimes I still do, that said I have such a healthy respect for people who are less fortunate than I am. I honestly don't know how those who are terminally ill cope. There are so many horrible, life threatening conditions out there that mine fades into irrelevance when compared against them and every day I'm grateful that I don't have something worse than WPW. 

But even with that in mind, I was still petrified. I was told that I would need an ablation (to put it simply it's a procedure where a proffessor inserts a tiny laser into the heart through the groin and neck and then destroys the small part of the heart where the problems lies thus irradicating the condition). I went in for the procedure and I don't think I have ever been so frightened in my life. I hate hospitals, I hate needles and the thought of having a 'procedure' just freaks me out. It just seems like such a huge deal to me. Anyway the first procedure was not particularly successful. I didn't respond well to the drugs they gave me which meant I sort of came round while they were still working on me. My SVT was going insane while they were trying to fix it which made life difficult for the proffessor working on me and eventually they had to call the whole thing quits because I was confused about what was happening and was in a lot of pain. 

I have to go back for another ablation that they will perform with me under a general anaesthetic so at the minute I'm still WPW sufferer. Having been ill with what I can only describe as the MOTHER OF ALL COLDS (seriously, It knocked me right off my feet!) recently, I've found that my heart rate is unsteady quite frequently and can only assume that somehow my body being run down is having a negative effect on my WPW.

I'm glad to say that I think I'm finally on the way out of that now though and hopefully it won't be much longer before my next ablation. In the meanwhile, we'll stick to the traditional medical terms when dealing with my condition....

MUM! MY TICKER'S FLIPPED AGAIN!!!

(obviously now we ring an ambulance and don't just wait for it to pass.. that would be silly)

Steph
x