Kate's Trip to the Pediatric Cardiologist

We had Kate's appt today with Children's Hospital for her Echo-cardiogram to "investigate" her heart murmur. (An echo-cardiogram is basically an ultrasound of the heart)

Kate had an EKG done in July & she was a total spaz during it & freaked out when they tried to put on the stickers & the probes. She was literally screaming, crying & thrashing around during her EKG. They were able to get a small reading on the EKG for about 5 seconds.

The results of the EKG came back "Abnormal" and did indicate a murur. Our Dr. referred us to Children's Hospital to meet with a pediatric cardiologist and ordered an echocardiogram. She wanted to see if there was a correlation between Kate's heart murmur & her small size & slow weight gain. The thought was that maybe her heart was working too hard & this was causing her to not be able to gain weight.

My dr told me it was probably an innocent murmur & she might out grow it my 4 or 5 years old. (I found out last month that my dad had a murmur as a child & actually still has one at the age of 59).

My dr told me not to loose sleep over this & that Kate is probably just fine, she just wanted to "make sure", hence the referral to Children's.

My mom came with me to Kate's appointment today b/c I had Kate and Claire & we didnt know how Kate was going to react to the echo. I needed back-up!

The appt went well. The dr came in and checked her out with the stethescope & Kate played with a sticker he brought her. He said he could hear the murmur & that Kate would have an echo done to see if there were any other complications with her heart, like a hole, etc, blah blah blah (other medical stuff I didn't understand or remember).

He said the tech would get us in a few minutes for the echo. That worked out well b/c I needed to nurse Claire in about 30 minutes, so I figured I could wait until the appt was over. Well a few minutes turned into 45 minutes! While we were waiting Kate was busy looking at books & playing with my keys & wallet. All of a sudden I felt something wet on my arm & I noticed I was leaking! There was a huge wet spot on my left boob. That is classy with a K.

Finally, the tech gets us & we follow him to the echo room. This is when Kate starts to freak. She has to lay down on this bed & we take off her shirt. The tech squirts the ultrasound goo on her chest and Kate is screaming & trying to get off the bed. I have to hold down her arms & my mom has to hold down her legs. The dr even brought her a lollipop. Kate didn't want that and practically flung it out of my hand. The echo took about 10 minutes and Kate was hysterical the whole time. She obviously doesnt like people in her personal bubble.

After the echo, we went back to our room & then the dr came in with the results. He said, you have a healthy little girl with an innocent heart murmur. He said "It has been nice being her cardiologist, I dont need to see her again!" Praise God!

YAY! Great news! I took Kate to Starbucks for a Strawberries & Creme to celebrate.