So a week before the Nor'easter I had a procedure done a Boston Children's Hospital called catheter ablation. If anyone remembers, I had to go to the hospital during Nationals for a type of heart palpitation called SVT (supraventricular tachycardia). During SVT, my heart races at 260bpm and I sometimes can't stop it myself. This is scary, so I went to a cardiologist, then a cardiac surgeon. What a catheter ablation does is effectively eliminate my SVT by putting catheters in my thighs and bringing them through main arteries to my heart. There,they figure out where the SVT is coming from and burn off fibers to eliminate it.
This procedure was totally voluntary; I could live with SVT if I wanted to. But I really don't want to be worrying about my heart when I'm climbing. When I went in for my procedure, I was the second case of the day, meaning I had to wait a billion hours for the first case to be done. During that time I walked around the hospital. It was really a humbling day for me, seeing so many sick kids, kids with cancer, heart conditions, and many other conditions. What struck me however was how happy they all were. Even though they were all suffering from some illness, they were all enjoying the life that they had.
The one that stuck me the most was this little girl who was in heart surgery. She was having a catheter ablation like me, but this was her 31st time getting an ablation. I talked with her mother in the waiting room and she told me that her child was born with a defective valve in her heart. As an infant, the valve was reconstructed with tissue, which can be accepted by the heart and the heart can regain strength/grow. In her case, the heart kept rejecting the tissue and she has to keep going into surgery to getting the tissue repaired. In total, this 2 year old (whose birthday was the day after her procedure) has had 31 catheter ablations and 3 open heart surgeries.
Shortly after we had talked, a nurse came in and told the little girls mother that there were complications with the ablation and her child was in the ICU with fluid filling up and into her lungs. Now, I felt terrible. Here is me, a very healthy adult, getting a voluntary catheter ablation done where as this little girl has no choice but risk the procedure. That moment was incredibly humbling for me and I will remember it forever. I hope that girl was able to make it to her birthday.
Overall, I went into surgery at 12:30 and it was very well. My doctor said that there was a 90% chance that they fully ablated my SVT and that I should never get it again in my entire life. Along with that good news, the doctor also told me that it wold be safe to compete in the Nor'easter, I just would be a little sore. I also entered myself into a study so during the ablation they could use other tools such as an ultrasound hooked up to a catheter instead of an x-ray to reduce radiation. I had under a minute of radiation during my entire 2 and a half hour procedure! I also got a neat picture that the ultrasound constructed/a picture they used during my procedure. (it is below)
A week later, I am feeling much better, competed decently and now I am at the tail end of my recovery. I'm excited that I got the procedure done just in time for the fall season!
