Since posting the reason for Mrs A and I not attending the Heli-Expo bash, I thought that I would continue with the saga in this forum largely because some HEMS folk might find it interesting.
After having a tachycardia incident during an exercise test two weeks ago, Charles was admitted to Sick Children’s’ Hospital in Toronto last Tuesday to begin a series of tests to determine the feasibility of a heart transplant.
On Wednesday morning, he had an AICD implanted – the D is defribulator – which is a combination pace maker and defribulator.
He tolerated the operation well and was essentially ‘out of it’ for the afternoon and slept a lot although the staff tried to fill him with information
One can have a plain pacemaker but the defribulator has a pacemaker included. It is a brilliant device the will shock his heart if it develops a specific arrhythmia. About 1 ˝ inches square by ˝ inch deep, it is quit a bit bigger than a pacemaker as it has a larger battery that is used to charge the capacitor which will shock him when needed. It can be read and programmed from outside his chest.
He has been diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy, which means that the lower part of his heart is enlarged to the point that the chambers are much too small and not enough blood can be pumped.
He presented adverse signs three years ago and has been tracked carefully since. As I understand it, he is the seventeenth case to appear in medical literature worldwide. There has obviously many more, just not reported. When you hear of a young athlete dying for no apparent reason, especially after exercise / sports, something similar is probably the culprit but the young person was unaware of the condition. Charles’ is the rarest version. We are just grateful that his symptoms appeared when they did and were investigated rather than ignored or misdiagnosed.
He is now in the pool waiting for a suitable heart to become available. As a type O he can only receive a type O transplant. This could be good or bad from a wait time which could be from tomorrow to twelve or as long as twenty-four months. Fortunately, apart from the heart issue, he is fit and in generally good health.
He is at home and sleeping
teenagers ?? but allowed to return to school next week if he is feeling up for it. Monday has already been declined.
I have kept this fairly general but if any of you medical types are interested in more detail then let me know. I will continue to post any significant updates.
Finally thanks again to those who responded so kindly to the original bash post directly and via pm's .
I trust that the mod will allow this to continue on Rotorheads given the HEMS connection. If you think that it should be moved please do so.