My son Will (10) has off an on complained of his chest hurting for the
past couple of years. Typically he complained of this after strenuous
exercise. I've always discounted it because it was typically after a
soccer game or some other type of physical activity and I just figured
he had an elevated heart rate. 15-20 minutes later he was always back
up and running around and no longer complaining about his chest
hurting. A couple of weeks ago at a well pediatric visit my wife
mentioned this to the pediatrician. They ran an EKG and it came back
bad so they ran another one and it was bad also. He then recommended
we meet with a pediatric cardiologist which we did today. The doctor
today confirmed with an ultrasound that he has Wolf Parkinson White
Syndrome. This is not something that is hereditary but rather
something you are born with. His heart has an extra electrical pathway
which can cause the heart to beat really fast. For a child his age it
could be up to 250 beats per minute. Some people may experience
fainting associated with this, which he never has. The good news is
that there is a low risk procedure that can be performed to abate this
extra pathway and it is highly effective especially for a case like
his. He stated you can see the extra pathway in the ultrasound
imagery. His recommendation was to let's just wait and see the
severity and how often he has these episodes over the next year. He
showed Will a way to try to put his heart back in rhythm if he does
encounter this and how we should try to determine how severe his heart
rate is by taking his pulse. We indicated Will is a very active little
dude and plays all kinds of sports and he did not limit any of his
activities. He indicated as he gets older we may at that time want to
consider the procedure to get rid of this extra pathway. Some people
have this and never even know it. It's only after they have some other
type of other heart condition that it is discovered. He indicated this
syndrome is really only an issue later in life when it might be
possible for it to cause cardiac arrest. He indicated that if this
lasts for over 20 minutes that we can take him to a hospital and they
can get his heart back to a normal rythym but that he will not be in
any real danger. This condition has not had any ill effects on his
heart and there will not be any long term damage either. To sum it all
up there really does not appear to be anything to be real concerned
about. The cardiologist was really great and he spent a lot of time
with us and answered all our questions and really put all our fears to
rest. So tonight I'm really happy and feel very fortunate. I truly
sympathize with any parent out there that has a child with a serious
ailment. I can only imagine the heart ache and stress that must cause.