Chopper Ride

 It's crazy late and I ought to be headed to bed but I can't sleep.  It's been a pretty intense day.  It started off fairly relaxed--we worked in the yard a little this morning before leaving the house around 10:45 to drive Eli up to FSY (For the Strength of Youth) at Utah State.  All of the kids were with me because we wanted to spend the day with Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles.  We'd even brought our bikes to check out the new trail that Charles has been developing around Hyde Park.

Well, we'd only been on the road for about ten minutes when Annika mentioned that her hand felt weird--tingly and numb.  After a short while the numbness moved up to her right arm, then her mouth.  We weren't quite sure, but it seemed like she might be having difficulty speaking.

A bit freaked out, I called Annika's cardiac team at Primary Children's Hospital and spoke to one of the nurses there.  By the time we connected Annika was feeling better and wanted to keep going to Logan.  (She particularly wanted to see the chicks at Robin's house.)  The nurse and I both felt like what had happened was definitely weird, but probably okay, so we continued on.  Annika fell asleep and the drive was peaceful.

Well, as we neared Logan Annika woke up and was worse.  Not only was the numbness back, she now had a severe headache (localized on the left side.)  We were just a few minutes away from Eli's drop-off at Utah State, but decided to make a detour to the Logan Regional Hospital.  I had Brooklyn and Talia drop Annie and me off so that Eli could still get to FSY on time.  It was hard to say goodbye to him under such circumstances.  This is his first time away from home!  Fortunately Talia was super generous and gave him her phone so that we could stay in touch.  We love you Eli!

Checking in at the ED, I wondered if we were making too big of a deal out of a tingly arm and a headache.  Truthfully, if it had been any of the other kids, we probably would have waited longer.  But given Annika's cardiac history, I didn't want to take any chances.

Well, when they took Annika's vitals her heart rate was low--super low.  Like in the 40s, occasionally dipping into the 30s.  I knew that was bad, but didn't realize quite how serious until the doctor explained that per protocol, they would perform CPR at this point.   Annika may have been feeling pretty lousy, but she was still awake and conscious.  Thankfully, CPR was not the answer.  Instead they gave her some atropine.  Still, I cringed as they placed the defibrillation shock pads on her chest, just in case.  Too many memories.

As you might guess, Annika immediately escalated out of triage and up the chain. They set up a teleconference call with the ICU at Primary Children's who said that she needed further evaluation at Primary's.  Could they arrange transport?

Well, transport looked like a helicopter.  Fortunately, by the time the helicopter had arrived the atropine had raised Annika's heart rate and her headache was subsiding.  The numbness and tingling were gone, and she was back to her chipper, chatty self.  In fact, she was pretty excited about taking to the air.

The pilot decided that I could hitch a ride in the front seat.  Annika was directly behind me so I couldn't see how she was doing, but the pilot Nate would occasionally give me a thumbs up sign.  Per Annika's review, the flight was awesome.  If nothing else, I'm glad she will be able to remember this one!  I kind of wish I'd given her my phone to take pictures since it was an absolutely beautiful day.  I didn't feel quite right snapping photos under the circumstances, but here are the few I did take.  Do you like how the ear protection matches my shirt?

As we neared the hospital, we flew directly over our home--so close that you could easily identify the different headstones at the cemetery. No wonder I find the sound of a helicopter triggering! When we landed on the heli-pad, I took it as a good sign that there wasn't an entire team waiting for us. Instead a security guard led the flight nurses to our room in the Cardiac Care Unit. Her vitals were so stable that we got to bypass the ICU completely (knock on wood.)

The person who suffered most was Jason.  He'd stayed behind in Salt Lake to work, but knew that we were in the ER because of text messages.  He was actually in the process of trying to donate blood when he received the text that Annie was doing poorly and would be admitted.  He'd just had his finger poked when they said, "Um, your heart rate is too fast."  At this point Jason broke down and explained the news he'd just received about Annie.

Naturally he wanted to come up to Logan, but at this point we didn't know if she would end up back in Salt Lake.  I'm glad he didn't start driving, even though it was awful for him to be stuck waiting for the helicopter to arrive.  He felt left in the dark because I was in conversations with medical personnel and couldn't text much.

After some hassle with security, Jason made it up to the Cardiac Care Unit just as Annika was settling into her room.  Her cardiac team was there waiting.  I am grateful that they know Annie and her complicated medical history.  Now we just need to puzzle out what's going on.  Best case scenario, it's just a medication dosing problem.  My mommy tingle thinks there might be a bit more, but then again, it could be nerves.  It's been quite a day.

Even so, I would love to break free in time to see some fireworks.  The freedom of Independence Day just doesn't feel quite the same when confined to a hospital bed.  Mostly though, we are SO grateful to live in this amazing country with extraordinary medical care.  To quote our baby girl, "Thank you for saving my life!"