Irresistible Izzy: Lost and Confused

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Lost and Confused

Over the last several weeks, Izzy has shown increased symptoms. Symptoms of what we are not certain.

It all began the weekend before Halloween. We spent a couple of glorious hours at the cider mill. This is something we have not done in years because Izzy could not drive that far. This year though, we had the meds just right for her to make it there. She had so much fun. We all did.

Later, as we ate an early dinner, Izzy started turning blue, very, very blue. All of her fingers and into her hands were blue. Her mouth and lips were blue. She looked ashen and gray in her face and was just suddenly limp. Needless to say, Dale and I freaked out, cranked up Izzy's oxygen, and got her out of the restaurant.

About 10 minutes after this picture, Izzy had her episode.

Since then, we've noticed Izzy's oxgyen has been trending lower and she's been having chest pains. She doesn't feel well often and is getting exhausted much more frequently. For instance, Izzy played indoor games (cards, board games, and imagining) with Phineas today and she requested to go to bed an hour early (6pm). Exhausted.

Izzy's baseline heart rate has changed as well. At the beginning of the year and for years before, Izzy's baseline heart rate was fairly high around 100 or more resting. These days, she tends to in the 70s. Before, her sleeping heart rate was 90 to 100 and now it runs just around 60. We've had times where Izzy is tachycardic and other times when she appears bradycardic. All the while, Izzy is complaining of either pain or weirdness in her chest.

Izzy is also having trouble with short-term memory. She is very forgetful these days. She will forget what she is doing or what she is looking for. Dale and Izzy were at the audiologists on Friday to pick up a replacement hearing aid (Izzy lost a hearing aid on Halloween). Anyway, as they were leaving the audiologist's office, Izzy couldn't even remember what she was doing there. This symptom is really bothering Izzy.

Since I mentioned Halloween, we will pause momentarily for Halloween photos.

Back to our regularly scheduled programing . . . All of the symptoms are bothering Izzy--both with physical discomfort and emotionally. On Monday afternoon (after coming home from school once again), Izzy requested that we call her cardiologist. Less than half an hour after leaving a message with the nurse about what we were seeing, we had a call that Izzy needed to be seen the next morning.

So, Dale, Izzy, and I went to the cardiologist's office Tuesday morning. After hearing all of Izzy's symptoms, the cardiologist decided to do an echo. The echo, apparently, looked great and "the best Izzy's heart has looked in a long time". The EKG, however, showed a different story with Izzy's heart much worse than before.

Dr. Cutler was not happy with Izzy's symptoms though and is ordering a 30-day event monitor. This is like a EKG Izzy will wear all of the time. It is hooked up to a mobile network and will transmit if there are any funny episodes and if we hit a button that states Izzy is having symptoms. The hope is that Dr. Cutler can find out what is happening (or isn't happening cardiac-wise) exactly when Izzy is having pain or feeling weird. Izzy will only have to wear it for a week if we can determine what is going on in that time. If we can't determine, then she'll have to wear it longer up to the full 30 days.

Izzy doesn't have the event monitor yet. The first one they tried to hook up wouldn't start correctly and then there was a mix-up on mailing the new one. Hopefully, Izzy will get it Monday night. Hopefully, we'll have some answers soon. If not, Dr. Cutler floated the idea of imaging--cardiac MRI or catheterization. We shall see.

Dr. Cutler also requested that Izzy see her neurologist about the short-term memory problems and drink lots. Izzy was told she should drink lemonade a lot (Izzy's favorite drink).

In the meantime, we are just looking forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then the Sweet Hearts Ball, where Izzy would love to dance the night away with all of you in support of The Children's Heart Foundation.