My Expierence

Surgery

I had surgery in June 2010. My surgery was in California. The surgery was an ablation; the removal of a material from under the surface of an object by vaporization, chipping, or other processes. The process they used on me was they went in through my neck and my groin and froze the second electrical pathway. It took up to 2 to 4 hours to complete. I didn’t have to stay overnight in the hospital afterwards, I stayed for an hour after the surgery and they let me go. I didn’t wake up in much pain, and I was only sore for a few days. I have two little scars in the places they entered through. But I no longer have the symptoms of SVT. I always try to be careful about my heart. The chances of me going into SVT again are very slim.

First interaction

The first interaction I had with my community was when I was in the 8th grade, when I was thirteen. I was diagnosed with SVT. I had just left my Tae Kwon Do class. I had been working out and my heart rate was up. I began to feel a pain in my chest and I had become extremely hot and light-headed. After calling 911the ambulance arrived and hooked me up to a heart monitor. As soon as they saw my heart rate they said that they needed to rush me to the ER right then and there.

The Pain

I was loaded into the ambulance and the EMT (Emergency medical technician) told me they had to restart my heart. He hooked me up to an IV and in the IV he gave me Adenosine that stopped my heart. (Adenosine is used in hospitals to try and restore a normal heart rate rhythm when you are having an episode of SVT.)

When my heart stopped I could no longer breathe. I felt like I was dying. I was still conscious but I wasn’t able to breathe and there was a very sharp pain in my chest where my heart is located.

But after a few seconds my heart restarted and started beating again and I could breathe. I no longer have the pains of SVT.

The pain I felt when I went into SVT was a sharp pain in my chest and it was hard to breathe. The pain I felt when my heart stopped was much worse, it felt like I had been stabbed in the chest and I couldn’t breathe.

By the time we finally got to the hospital my heart rate had gone from really high of 232 beats per minute back down to the lower regular beats. I had to stay in the hospital for a week so the doctors and nurses could monitor my heart and make sure that I didn’t go back into SVT.

This is a picture of me 8th grade year when i found out I had SVT.

Wright, Victoria. Picture of Me. 2011