Holter Monitors... A Party In A Box :)

We had a cardiac follow up last week and everything went very well.  C's repair continues to look good.  His EKG showed sinus rhythm the entire time.  His trauma appears to be settling out, he wasn't nearly as upset with the EKG or echo this time.  Our doctor ordered what he said would be a 24 hour holter test, it ended up being 48 hours.

They have added an additional vendor for holter monitors since the last one we had to have.  We had a long waiting period last time and eventually had to be bumped ahead when it took more than a month and we still hadn't had the test.  This time, we went through Life Watch and used their ACT system.  We received a call when the order was placed, they told us when we could expect the monitor and scheduled a call for that evening so we could have live technical support as we hooked C up to the monitor.

The box includes all the batteries and sensor pads you'd need for anything up to 30 days of monitoring (I'm guessing) It was a LOT of batteries and sensors.  This system wasn't nearly as clunky and big as the one we used the first time.  We were able to apply the sensors, with minimal trauma even though C HATES stickers.  I think it was a lot easier on him doing this at home.

They provide a lanyard to hang the sensor around his neck, which I'm sure works great for an adult, but not so much with a 2 year old.  We ended up taking option 2, which is snapping the sensor to another sticker and sticking it to his abdomen.  The sensor transmits data to a cell phone.  I asked how they thought this was going to go with a 2 year old and they assured me he just needed to stay within 10 feet of the phone.  I ended up rigging a workable system.  We took our Dapper Snapper and ran it through the belt loops of the case they provided for the cell phone.  During the day, C wore the cell phone on the back of his pants clipped on by both the belt clip and the dapper snapper.

I had to call back tech support and figure out if I was allowed to lock the phone.  The thought of 16 toddlers with easy access to this dang phone had me very worried.  I finally figured out how to lock and unlock the phone and we were off... They had asked us to charge the phone overnight and if possible for a couple of hours during the day.  We didn't have a good way of ensuring the charger would make it back home at the end of the day, so we chose to forego the daytime charging.  The phone did die at about 3pm on day one, however, the sensor can store up to 6 hours of data, so we charged it again when he got home from school and just kept him in the bedroom so he would stay within 10 feet without a fight.

We drug a bunch of onsies out of storage for this adventure and they made things a lot easier.  However, the sticker wasn't strong enough and it came off before the end of the day.  Day 2, we  added an ace bandage (thanks for the idea Mom!) which distributed the weight of the sensor better.

C found the experience slightly annoying but survivable.