Another SVT Episode

This month has been a roller coaster with Miss K!  It wasn't fun starting the new year with an ear infection in the first place but it's gotten progressively worse.

We went in to see the Pediatrician last week for a follow up on Miss K's ear infection.  Good news, her ear was no longer infected, bad news it had a lot of fluid left in it.  She's scheduled to go in for her 6 month well baby check up in 2 weeks so her Pediatrician planned to see her again then to check the progress of her ear.  Since it was the beginning of the weekend when we saw the Pediatrician he wanted to make sure we were prepared for anything without the need of a doctor so he prescribed another round of Amoxicillin for Miss K and instructed me to fill it for her if she got worse over the weekend (i.e. pulling or tugging at her ear, congestion, cough or fever).  Miss K did great over the weekend though so we thought we were in the clear.

Yesterday Miss K started getting really fussy and hard to keep happy, I attributed it to her teeth moving.  Last night wasn't much fun for any of us.  Miss K tossed and turned and cried out constantly throughout the night, ending up sleeping in our bed with us so we could console her more easily without needing to leave our own bed to do so.

This afternoon Miss K started tugging at her ear, the same one that was previously infected and full of fluid.  So I contacted the Pediatrician and he instructed me to fill the prescription for Amoxicillin.

We made matters worse for Miss K by taking a little shopping trip this evening, the change in altitude got to her ear ache.  And we also messed with her nap and feeding schedule for the evening.

By the time bedtime rolled around poor Miss K's ear was bothering her so much she was hard to console, she was also overly tired and hungry.  Because of her medication schedule I could not feed her or allow her to sleep so I put some numbing drops in her ears and tried my best to keep her happy.  By the time I was able to give her her Propanalol she was VERY worked up, and forcing her to take medication she didn't want to take made her more upset.  Then her screaming hit its worst.  I got her eating and pulled out the stethoscope to check her heart on a hunch and sure enough Miss K was in SVT.  Of course I panicked, I was so upset myself I was shaking and my shaking wasn't helping at all.  Miss K was in bliss finally getting to eat.  I didn't want to disturb her to try a physical maneuver, I was afraid it would only make matters worse.  So I tried the physical maneuver of tipping her upside down to change her blood pressure, this I could do while she ate without disturbing her.  It didn't work.  I had to make myself calm down and take a few deep breaths, then I listened to her heart again and it was beating normal again.  I think it happened on its own because she calmed down.

I'll be calling her Cardiologist tomorrow morning to let him know about these 2 new episodes this month.  We'll see if he still wants to wait 2 more weeks to see her or if we'll be moving the date up.

I would love to say I was looking forward to taking her off the Amiodarone but I'd be lying.  I was scared to death.  Scared she still needed it.  Scared she'd have another SVT episode.  Scared we'd end up hospitalized again.  Scared.  Scared.  Scared.  But I really want her off this toxic medication as soon as possible.  I know now that February will not be the month that we end the Amiodarone.  I also know that we'll more than likely be adjusting the medication doses. 

One thing I can be truly be hopeful for is the possibility to change her Amiodarone from a compound to a pill form so we can mix it with food to give it to her instead of forcing it down her throat with a syringe.  She has become very difficult with taking her medications.  It takes 5-10 minutes to get them down her.  The Propanalol is a low enough dose that I'm not too anxious to get it in pill form, I can endure that one.  But we have to give her so much Amiodarone that it's getting frustrating going through her spitting it out, gagging on it, occasionally throwing it all up with her last meal, and most recently holding it in her mouth and refusing to swallow; she's really great at this one!  No matter how far back we tip her head she will not swallow it, she can swallow her own saliva past the medication without swallowing even a drop of it!  No amount of flavoring will help her, we've even tried Hershey's Chocolate Syrup.  It's not the taste, it's the way we're giving it to her, she knows what it is and knows she doesn't want it.  So, if we're keeping her on the Amiodarone then hopefully we can make things easier on all of us.