Ever since I was 2 years old, I have always been a patient at The Hospital for Sick Children. They have provided be with optimal care and ensured that I was booked anually for check-ups related to my allergies, while providing care from smaller clinics of Sick Kids doctors. Until March of 2018 however, I was not as frequently seen. 

My family vacation in Big White, British Columbia (Canada) was the most fun I've ever had until the second last night. At dinner, while complaining of cold sweats, stomach pain, chest crams, fatigue, I had no appetite whatsoever. This was very unlike me. Although I am challenged with other health issues, these symptoms were so unlike something I've ever experienced before. The staff at the resturants gave me ginger ale, cranberry juice and ice water, in hopes to calm my body down and ease my discomfort. Having a history of athsma, and nothing else other than my allergies, I took my inhaler around  6 times, which is the maxium dosage within a certain period of time. Although patients are only instructed to take 1-2 puffs in a 12 hour period. In my case, this was emergent and concerning. My heart rate was quickly climbing from a normal and resting rate of 80 BPM (Beats per Minute) to 200+ BPM. The emergency department at the resort was the fire department, so my parents took me right there after calling them. For a few hours, they were able to calm down my heartrate with oxygen, but it still wasn't normal.

After being so exausted from the day of skiing, when we got back to our condo, I fell asleep right away, even in my outdoor clothing (which is super unlike me as I am a germaphobic). My parents and I knew something was wrong but I was feeling okay by this point. At 12:00 AM, I was awoken to my parents taking my pulse, at least one hand on my chest, one near my mouth and on my neck. We were all super alarmed as they couldn't count BPM, which you can normally do by feeling your neck or inside of your wrist. At this point in the night, I was so tired because my heart was racing for so quickly. Prior to dinner, I fell and hit my head on the hill. My parents were worried that I was showing bad symptoms of a concussion, so they called 911. Due to the fact that we were so far away from the Kelowna Hospital, it would have taken the ambulance the same amount of time to get to us. So we quickly packed a bag and my parents rushed me to the hospital.

Being 10 years old, this was very scary for me. From the moment I got into the hospital, I was seen instantly by a doctor. For nearly 15 hours my heartrate was at 250 BMP which is certainly abnormal. One doctor told me that my heart was racing as if I had continually been running marathons without stopping for all 15 hours. Throughout this time, I was instructed to try various manouvers to "break" the long-lasting episode. This included holding my breath for 30 seconds and swallowing 3 times, dunking my head in ice water for 10 seconds to shock my heart back, putting both lips on the mouth piece of a seringe and trying to use my breath to force the back part off, and many more. Although the doctors were careful and excellent, they were uncertain about what was going on. They were planning to air lift me to the Vancouver Childrens Hospital for more observation from paediatric doctors when the episode broke. I was but on a medication called Beta Blockers which is meant to control your heart rate, stopping it from going very high or low. After 24 hours of observation, we made our flight back to Toronto, Ontario. 

I was very quickly seen by Dr. Joel Kirsh in the Cardiology Unit at Sick Kids. He is an incredible doctor and took all possible measures with me to ensure my well-being. I was diagnosed with SVT or Supra Ventricular Tachycardia, meaning there was an extra pathway in my heart, causing my heatrate to rase uncontrollably. That day, we switched off the Beta Blockers, as it was having a significant impact on my mood and physical lifestyle, to a med that I took four times a day. Being a young child, this was challenging because my parents had to wake me throughout the night and I had to self administer it at school. This was a big transition but Sick Kids allowed me to feel safe and allowed me to ask as many questions until I was comfortable with the changes. I was also hooked upto a 24 hour monitor that was attached with three leads to my chest. It would monitor my heart rate and if I felt an episode I would click a button to track it.