When I was 14, I was diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome and this is my story. In a later post, I will elaborate on what my heart condition actually is.
Every story has a beginning. It all started on March 10, 1999. It was a Wednesday and I was in school. Not long before lunch, I was in the language arts class and we were conjugating verbs. Everything was normal until my vision started to get blurry. No big deal as I thought maybe dust or something got on my glasses. It only got worse, though, and I started to worry. Do I say something to the teacher or the kid next to me? The answer would be no only because it felt like I couldn't talk. I probably did feel lightheaded or dizzy, but I can't really remember. The next thing I remember is coming to on a stretcher as the medics were carrying me to the ambulance - I came to on a flight of stairs and knew where I was and everything like that except for what happened. At worst, I thought I had passed out. As you have probably guessed, I was taken to the local children's hospital. The ride was quiet as I didn't know what had happened - my mom was in the back with me which brought me some comfort. Once at the hospital, I got admitted to the ER right away and an IV was started just as a precaution. What followed was several hours of laying there and eventually I went for a CT scan of my head and despite it being loud, I fell asleep. Soon after, I got discharged with no real answers. I was told I had an innocent heart murmur which was nothing to worry about (unrelated to the seizure) and to follow up with cardiology and neurology. I don't remember when I found out that I had a seizure, but I'm guessing it was some time when was I in the ER.
Over the next couple of weeks, I was evaluated by both a cardiologist and a neurologist. I underwent a battery of tests including the following: EKG, EEG, stress test, and an echo cardiogram. After all was said and done, we still didn't know what caused the seizure. It wasn't epilepsy or some other brain issue and no heart problems came up either. This kind of started a back and forth thing between both doctors as when nothing was found cardiology wise, we were told it had to be brain related, and vice-versa.
I was 11 at the time, but turned 12 amidst when I was getting the tests done. Since no explanation was given, my life slowly returned to normal. It was a little scary knowing I had had a seizure, but I ended up thinking that it was just something that would only happen once and that I never would have another seizure. And if I didn't have another one, it was okay that we didn't have an answer. Unfortunately, I would be wrong. But that's for my next post.
~Meg~
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