The Last Few Days...

... have been good. The Buchach family Christmas was set for Sunday in Schaumburg. We talked with a pulmonary guru at UW and "mapquested" a hospital with a pediatric cardiologist in Illinois in case Sam offered any surprises on the trip. We were not sure that we would make the adventure after Saturday's excitement. He ate right before we left for Illinois and slept the whole way down. Christmas was great and Sam had quite the gift haul. Then we fed him and he slept the whole way home.

Sam was fitted with a 24 monitor on Monday which was returned Tuesday. This morning we met with Sam's cardiologist and all the news was good. He had another EKG (I believe this makes it seven in one month) and everything still works. He was alright with the blood pressure check, but is still no fan of being weighed. After the visit the monitor results came in, again, all good news. They bumped up his dose yet again. This is a .1 mL (a couple drops) increase three times a day and was planned based on his weight gain. Another medicine was discussed as a possibility if Sam continues to "break through" while taking the current medication. This would require a two to three day hospital stay and has more possible side effects. Let's pray this isn't necessary.


Sam hanging out again with his aunt Betsy

Sam's Dad

Samuel had another heart rate spike this morning in the 220 bpm range. We sent two of the "wireless gizmo" EKGs when he was at the high rate. He then came out of it on his own before we tried any techniques or loaded up for the ER. The pediatric pulmonary specialist told us to raise his future propanolol dosage again. On Monday we go in to set Sam up with another 24 hour heart monitor.

I (Brett) have a sinus infection. I went in to a UW clinic yesterday with a bad cold. It is the same clinic that we have taken Sam half a dozen times for pediatrician appointments. The receptionist took my name and before she had entered my information she said, "Oh, you're Sam's dad." I'm now known by some people primarily as someone else's dad. My doctor quickly prescribed an antibiotic to take (ironically) at the same times Sam takes his medicine. We spent the rest of the time discussing Sam, SVT, wireless EKGs, and the wonderment of beta blockers.

More Pictures/Less Text

Ups and Downs

Saturday was a great day. We took Sam to church and he was wonderful. He was quieter than most of the adults in the cry room. Then we pushed our luck and went to Old Chicago for dinner. He had just finished a bottle and basically slept through the whole meal.

Sunday wasn't quite as good. Kate and Sam had their first "mother-son outing" to Target. Then they went to drop off some gymnastics information for the new West High School gymnastics coach. Katie had noticed that Sam had screamed briefly and calmed down. When she took him out of his carrier she saw the artery in his neck going way too fast. He had jumped back up to the high heart rate.

In summary, I ended up meeting Kate and Sam at the new coach's house and the three of us went to the ER. The tricks to get Sam's rate back down (invert him, ice pack on his face, rectal temp) didn't work, so they gave him an injection that brought his heart rate back down. We watched the end of the Packer game in the ER while Sam recovered. Sam's beta blocker dose was raised to try to keep ahead of these episodes. The dose needs to increase as he gains weight to keep the therapeutic effect. If his heart rate continues to jump the dose will likely increase regardless of weight gain.

So, with Sam's rate back under control, we went back home. A short time later he spiked again. This time he came out of it himself. We used his little portable EKG gizmo to "notify the authorities" and went to bed.

There were no episodes last night.

Keep the prayers coming for Samuel's little ticker....

Good News

Samuel had a pediatrician appointment today and all the news was good. He is back up to his fighting weight (ie birth weight) of 9 pounds. He has all the normal two week old baby reactions to light and sound. A standard newborn screen of 29 rare diseases came back negative across the board.

Thanks for the prayers for a quick recovery.

Free at last

Sam's back home!

We were discharged around 1:00 today and brought Sam back home. The new medicine appears to be working well. Sam is eating, sleeping well, and still doesn't like having blood drawn. His two night monitoring at UW Children's hospital was happily uneventful. Sam has strapped on another 24 hour monitor recording his heart activity that we will drop off tomorrow. The new drug is taken three times a day (every eight hours). It is still in the loading stage. The monitor download will show the cardiologist if the drug is having any adverse impact at the 100% maintenance level.

Sam's got another cool gizmo. It's about the size of cell phone and has four sensors on it. If Sam is acting odd or stressed we press the gizmo to his chest, press the button, and wait for it to beep. Then we call an included phone number, put the gizmo to the phone, press a different button for it to play back and it effectively faxes a basic EKG on Sam's recent heart activity to be reviewed. If it doesn't look right the information is sent to our cardiologist. Pretty cool...

Grandma Bauch and Aunt Betsy visited Sam in the hospital yesterday. Betsy held him for half an hour and he loved it. Grandpa Bauch came up from Florida for the weekend. He held Sam for quite a while, spent time with us in the hospital yesterday, and was with us as we brought Sam back home today.

Sam is doing great. Things are good once again. Thanks for the prayers...