Kayson's Heart

There are moments in a mother's life when you regret every time you ever yelled at your child. Every time you told them no and broke their heart. Every time you ignored them to get something done that you thought was "more important". Every time you silently said you wanted to lock them in a closet for 5 minutes or send them to the zoo cuz they HAD to be the worst behaved kid on the block. Right? Well I had that moment on January 10th, 2012, along with my sweet husband.

We drove down to Primary Children's Hospital thinking it was going to be an out of the ordinary day all along because of Kayson having his first surgery being completely under general anesthesia. He had to have some dental restoration done, nothing crazy but you have your concerns. And my concern was oddly dead on. I made some comments to family the week prior that I was worried he would get into surgery and they'd find out he had some heart condition we didn't know about and something tragic would happen. You hear about those stories sometimes.

The morning of his surgery his dad gave him a Priesthood blessing. It was actually Kayson's very first blessing from Erik so it was pretty special. When we got down there, Kayson was pretty excited about the place because it's all decked out in a children's playful, colorful, friendly environment. During the pre-op exam, the nurse practioner said his heart sounded abnormal. So she had another nurse come listen...then another...then another. Then came an EKG.

The next thing we knew we were being told that his surgery needed to be rescheduled because he has a heart condition called Premature Ventricular Contraction (PVC). It's actually a pretty common condition, especially in children. Basically he has extra heartbeats. But of course we weren't given much information about it and we still had to meet with a cardiologist to find out more. They sent him home with a Holter Monitor and we just walked out of there trying not to shake.

It was just one of those moments where you allow yourself to be completely terrified for your child. Wondering if they're going to be ok...if they're going to have to go through repetitious procedures..wondering if they're not going to be able to play sports or be active...wondering if they'll suffer...and of course fearing the worst outcome. We definitely didn't go home the way we expected. That day the 3 of us drove home, enjoying our first time together alone in months. It was a great little date together. We had lunch together and just soaked him up a little bit more. Kayson loves music...so I told him he just has a few extra beats in his heart...making his music cooler than normal. We did our best to make him feel like it was cool. It made him feel special.

He hated this monitor...what 4 yr old wouldn't? He's way too active to keep nonsense like this on haha!
(And yes...that is chocolate pudding all over his face..what can ya do?)

At his visit to the cardiologist today, we found out that the bottom ventricle of his heart is what is having extra beats. Most of the people with PVC have the issue in the top ventricles. But luckily, all of his tests showed benign results. No tumors, No problems with blood flow...phew!!! It was the best news I've heard all month. All of the weight and worry was lifted. He will have to be examined once a year to make sure it doesn't get worse. Unfortunately they don't know why it happens and what causes it. We're just glad it's nothing to worry about right now. HALLELUJAH!!!

I know that it turned out to not be something to make a big deal out of. But I think it's important to take note and document these special moments in our lives when you feel God's hand. We felt His place when we realized his heart condition was found before going under anesthesia that would've aggravated it. And we're so grateful that we have these moments that force us to stop and think about what's important. To remember how blessed we are for each day we have with our children. To love and soak them up just a little bit more. To not take our lives or lives around us for granted. Life can seem in order one minute and completely change the next. There are people out there every day getting the opposite news that we did and my heart goes out to them. But today, we're so grateful and we're so aware of the blessings we have and the love our Heavenly Father has for our family.