A few seconds of our lives
On the 22 January 2005 our lives changed in 55 seconds...
On the 22 January 2005 our lives changed in 55 seconds. I made a telephone call to my cousin and during that time my 6 year old son got his costume on and jumped into the swimming pool (4m from where I were). As I finished the phone call, I suddenly heard my son breathing heavily.
When I got to him he was pale and he said that he doesn’t feel well. As I took him out of the pool he stopped breathing and I couldn’t feel a heartbeat. I started CPR……. 20 minutes later we were at the hospital where he was still in ventricular tachycardia and unconscious.
After 4 shocks his heart rhythm returned to normal.
During the next 8 days in ICU at Kloof hospital in Pretoria we had many ups and downs. He was connected to a ventilator and sedated for 2 days. Those were the days that we didn’t know what his outcome would be. For sure the worst news was when we realized he couldn’t see. After a MR scan we were assured that it would only be temporary and could take up to 2 weeks for his vision to return. He was very weak and he had little muscle control. His heart rhythm was stable although his QTc was longer than 500ms. They changed his beta blockers and increase the dosage.
He had to relearn everything from head control, sit, stand and moving his arms and legs. We had to feed him and he could do very little for himself.
While he was in hospital the doctors insisted that he should have an ICD. There was a couple of things that we considered to rather postpone it to a later date:- our Medical Aid was only prepared to pay for a 1/4 of the total cost, we had to find out more about the ICD and what it all involve, our son was to weak and neurologically unstable. After another week at home his physical and neurological condition improved a lot and we got to the stage where we knew much more about the ICD and what it all involved. It would be saver for him to be protected by the ICD. 2 Months later we went for a second opinion to Cape Town and on the 13 April 2005 he got his ICD in Grootte Schuur Hospital. He was discharged the same day and his recovery went from strength to strength.
Ian’s cardiac arrest changed my opinion about LQT. I was 5yrs old when I had my first syncope. Throughout my life I’ve learned a how to adapt my life with Long qt syndrome and beta blockers. I always thought if I have children, I would teach them how to live with LQT. I also got an ICD in April 2006. It was much easier to make the decision. We already knew what is involved and it doesn’t change your life - you have extra protection.
16 Months after Ian got his ICD he is very proud of his “brave badge” or computer as he sometimes call it. He hasn’t had any shocks from his ICD since he got it.
Rika de Jong