Garrett's Heart Appointment

After we returned home from our trip with Nikki, we played some Rummikub with Curtis's parents and a round of Bananagrams, and then watched another Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn part 1. Since we had let his parents use our room and because we were leaving again the next day, we ended up sleeping in Garrett's bed and he got the couch. We also used the hall bath. I can't wait to change out the shower valve in that bathroom. Trying to adjust the water temperature on that shower is annoying, and with two extra people showering that morning, my shower was a little on the cool side. Oh well. Mom started cooking some homemade chicken noodle soup before church so that it would be ready to eat when we got home from church. I wasn't in a hurry to leave for Nampa, but I also did not expect us to leave as late as we did. We didn't get on the road until around 3:30pm. Garrett and I drove in the van and Curtis drove his truck. He took his truck instead of work car because my dad gave us their two kayaks and he needed to haul them home on Wednesday. 

We arrived at Grandma's house around 8:30pm and just visited for a while. Dad and Laverne were there and had some leftovers for us for dinner. They went home at 10:00 and Curtis drove to Boise to his work hotel. Garrett, Grandma and I went to bed soon after. The next morning Garrett and I drove over to Meridian St. Luke's for his appointment. It was scheduled for 9am but we had to be there by 8:45. They first did an ultrasound on his heart and then took an EKG. Afterwards, Dr. Mack came in to talk about things. He said those tests looked good, but he would like to get some other testing done such as a stress test (exercising), liver ultrasound, and a cardiac catheterization. The catheterization could not be done in Idaho, so they said our options were Seattle, Salt Lake or Spokane. We chose Spokane because it is only 2 hours away. Our doctor also said it was time for Garrett to graduate to an adult cardiologist that specializes in congenital heart conditions. They had two right there in St. Luke's, but he said they also have some in Spokane. I told him we would stay in Meridian for now but wanted to think about it. Dr. Mack also wanted Garrett to wear a heart monitor for 3 days to check his heart rhythms, so they set that up on him. It was just a little round device that sticks on to his skin. He was able to shower with it but they didn't want it getting too wet. They gave us a prepaid box to mail it in to after the time was done. The doctor also wanted him to do a round of blood tests. We told him we would do that right away there at St. Luke's after the appointment so we could get it done.

After we left his office, we went right down to get his blood drawn. It turns out my sister, Tamara, works there in the registration. She wasn't the one to sign us in, but we did get to see her, and she came around to give us hugs and talk a little bit before we headed back to the lab. They tried Garrett's left arm first but were unsuccessful in hitting the vein and switched to the right arm. They got it this time, and they took a lot of blood from him. I didn't count but I think it was around 7 or 8 vials of blood for all of the tests the doc wanted. He got lightheaded and dizzy afterwards, so they let him sit there behind a curtain to rest and sip on ice water until he was ready to get up. 

When we left there, we headed to Grandma's to grab our things and then go to lunch with dad, mom and grandma to Chick-Fil-A. It was a good lunch and visit, but then it was time to go back home because Garrett had school the next day. 

Heading into Chick-Fil-A to get some grub.

Garrett, Dad, me and grandma

Garrett, mom, me and Grandma

We arrived back home around 4:30pm. Garrett got right to work on his homework that he missed that day. I was so impressed because I didn't have to say anything. He's getting more serious about making sure he graduates by getting his homework done. Yay! I slept in Garrett's bed again that night so that my in-laws wouldn't have to move their stuff out of our bedroom. They left the next morning around 8am and it was back to business as usual.

After talking to Curtis, I went ahead and told Dr. Mack that we would like to go ahead and do all of the tests that Garrett needs in Spokane and just get an adult doctor there as well since it is half the distance. He sent the referral and to help us out, the new doctor decided to have a virtual visit with Garrett to get to know him and go over the tests. He didn't want us to have to drive all the way to Spokane just for this visit which needs to happen before getting the tests done. We also just had a visit with Dr. Mack in Idaho. We weren't able to schedule the virtual visit until June 10th, after Garrett's graduation. He could have done it on the 13th of May, but Garrett didn't want to miss any more school. So now it is the waiting game again and focusing on school and graduating.

While I was shopping yesterday, I did get a phone call from the person who reads the heart monitor tests and he was concerned because he did see some irregular rhythms and wanted to talk to a specialist. After talking to him for a bit I asked what time the irregular rhythms happened and it turns out it happened right after his appointment, which is when he gave blood. That made more sense to him and relieved him a bit. Garrett hasn't had any other problems or anything since then. The specialist, which I think are the adult congenital heart doctors there at St. Luke's, are going to look at it with the information I gave him and will contact us next week when they have a plan for how to proceed from here. He was still worried though because the monitor showed that his heart actually stopped beating for about 10 seconds. He suggested next time he has to get blood drawn to lay down while doing it. That's a scary thought that his heart stopped beating for a bit! Thankfully he's been doing fine since then and I guess we'll wait to see what the experts say.