Sunday, January 4, 2009

CLEAR!! (zap!)

New Year's Eve, Brandon started coming down with my flu and started his afternoon with a nap. He then went upstairs to throw up about 3pm. Immediately following, his heart went into A-Fib (atrial fibrillation). He called down to me in the kitchen, asking me if I could come upstairs. I told him I couldn't, because I was melting chocolate on the stove for a treat for that night's festivities. A few minutes later, he called down again, same voice, same thing. I told him I really couldn't, but if he'd give me a couple minutes, I'd be done and would come up. (I figured he was working on the bathroom and needed help holding something up or measuring something.)

I went up there and he was lying on a blanket of towels sweating. He said he wanted me up there so in case he passed out, we would know. He was nervous, so he had me call his Mom for advice. He took a little bath, and a little later I told him we should go to the Instacare down the street. When we got there, we decided that it would be best to go straight to the ER in American Fork. It only took a few minutes to be admitted luckily. In the exam room, his heart rate shot up to 150 bpm. (which means that the top part was beating at about 300) They gave him a drug twice to slow his heart rate (which marginally worked) and then one to regulate it. It didn't kick out of it, so they decided to ambulance him over to Utah Valley hospital to be seen by their cardiologists. (I'm assuming that because it was New Year's Eve and theirs was gone?)

I drove to meet him there about 7:30pm and used that time to call our family and update. When I got to the ER, the front desk guy said he wasn't there yet. I checked the time and finally called the other ER to find out when they had left. They said he should have been there by now, but he might not be in the ER. I again asked the desk guy to check. He still didn't see Brandon's name anywhere, so he went into the ER to ask the people inside. The retard comes back out and proceeds to tell me that he's not there, but that he would probably be heading to the OR when he did. I freaked out a little and said, "I'm sorry, the OR????" He was like, "Well, maybe later?" He made me walk back out to the parking lot to get to the front of the hospital to find Brandon. So I'm upset, and trying to hurry through the parking lot, prego belly contracting....I was so mad. I ask the lady in Admitting about it. She's like, "He's not here yet, but when he is, this is his room number." I knew he should have been there by then and what the crap??? Anyway, my Mom and Step-Dad showed up just then, followed shortly by my brother. We talked for a minute and then decided to go up to Brandon's room and wait. Brandon was there the WHOLE TIME. BLAH.

My brother Paul and Step-Dad Larry gave Brandon a blessing and a few minutes later the doctor came in and explained what was going on to us. They decided to try and do some tests to find the cause rather than just shock him right then. He was given more of the same drugs throughout the night to try and kick it back into rhythm by itself, but they didn't work. (I had a couch in his room to sleep on, sheets and all, but there is no sleeping on that.) At 5 am they decided to just shock him. It was interesting. They gave him a fast-acting and fast-leaving sedative and proceeded with the defibrillator. I was in the room, but didn't watch. As soon as he was out, they shocked him and it worked to put him back into normal rhythm immediately. He was back awake about 1 minute later. After sitting around ALL DAY, someone finally came in about 3:45pm to do a heart ultrasound, then made us wait for a doctor to view the results. Apparently, there wasn't much to talk about, cause he never saw another doctor that day. He was finally discharged at 7pm by a kind nurse. Anyway, he feels fine and has felt fine since he was shocked. Yay Brandon.



Here he is getting hooked up with some of the 30 million wires he ended up with.

Here is a fun one I took of Seth and Brandon just before midnight. We had to make our own fun.

And just to prove I was there...those are my feet.

Here he is getting the chest ultrasound. It was really interesting, but since I hadn't slept well, I kept falling asleep against the wall.

And here he is, all perked up in the afternoon. Again, making our own fun.
Thanks for all the concern, he has a follow-up appt. next week and they put him on some medication. He is feeling fine, and is working on the house already. How was your New Year's??

19 comments:

dayna said...

holy crap! seriously! i would have lost it about a million times in the process. amazing that you didn't go into labor! i hope he is feeling better and that you never have to deal with this again! this is just crazy! happy new year by the way...i can't wait to keep tabs on all the happenings in your house. weird, since we've never met and all. :)

Brenda said...

Ditto Dayna! Holy Crap! What's the deal Brandon? Like Cara doesn't give you enough drama? I'm glad he's doing better. What a way to start the new year. Keep us posted.

adrienne said...

What! That is crazy! We wish you guys the best! I really liked the picture with Seth. Classy!
-michael

.jimaie.marie. said...

OMG!! wow...i'm so glad he's okay, how stressful sheesh! i'm glad he's doing better now, happy new year kids!

Kacy said...

I have to say that I can guarantee ours was better then yours. We rocked out to Guitar Hero world tour til all hours of the night. I am super glad that your Hubby is doing much better, even if he flipped us off in the church parking lot. LOL

Emalia said...

Wow!! I'm so sorry about this whole ordeal. What a New Years! John says to Brandon: "Rub some dirt in it. Don't be a puss." Let's get together sometime--seriously, I'm not just saying that. We'll invite ourselves to dinner and bring something. :-)

HFiles said...

I am way to familiar on this subject. My dad has had it a few times in the past 10 years. If you need any help with the boys or yourself let me know!

Omgirl said...

OH MY GOSH! I can't believe that! Did they ever figure out why all that happened? Did it have something to do with the flu, or was that totally unrelated? Keep us posted. That is CARAZY!

brandi (and tim) said...

You guys are so funny. What an elaborate prank!

Crystal said...

Wow! I can't believe that! I love the photo documentation of the episode. Hilarious! Glad both of you made it through!

McMommy said...

I would DIE if anything happened to Brandon.

But if something did happen, how much do you want for his unicycle?

(KIDDING BRANDON!!!! So glad you are ok!)

p.s Cara, you totally get bonus points for bringing the camera with you. See, you really are a blogger at heart.

~*~Coy~*~ said...

Man, that's one thing that sucks about me leaving the ER...I don't get to see the cardioversions anymore! I don't know why, but I still jump every time the shock happens.

Glad to know he's doing better. Hope things go well with the cardiologist and all.

~~Jacquoax

CaraDee said...

Technically, it was his iphone. I played on that sucker the whole time. I would've DIED without it. Every spare second I could check my email, update my facebook, play games, send out texts and take pictures. Heaven.

But generally, (and it was in there) I keep my camera in my purse at all times anyway.

Wrights said...

So it takes a near death experience for you to finally post on your blog...it's good to have you back. And Brandon, of course.

Danielle said...

That is so crazy! I'm glad he's o.k. I loved the pics in the hospital room! One in particular....

Tonia Conger said...

How scary.I'm glad he is doing well and impressed that you kept a sense of humor most of the time. I wouldn't have been as patient as you!
Any idea what caused the problem in the first place?

Amanda C said...

Wow Cara! How scary. I am glad he is doing better now. Hopefully you don't have to go through that again.

Christine said...

Poor guy. Tha tis so scary! I can't believe that. I'm glad that everything is ok.
PS We loved your Christmas card. That was hillarious.

Maggie May said...

holy crap! that's scary. i'm glad he's ok.