cardiologist appointment

we had our appointment with the cardiologist yesterday. we were running late b/c the little girl that never poos all of a sudden decided to dirty her diaper - 3 times...ugh. and then of course b/c of these lovely subzero temperatures, a drive that should have taken 5 - 10 minutes took 25...so we were a little late, and forgot to bring "the binder". the binder is what i keep all of kaiya's medical records in. i usually bring it whenever we are meeting a new doctor or therapist. usually these people look at me like i'm insane for carrying around my kid's medical records, but i do it anyway b/c i get taken a lot more seriously when i have what another doc said to back me up...

so we go in and the nurse starts the interview process - and wouldn't you know she asks me if i have any of kaiya's past medical records with me...and then she goes into this lecture about how i should always carry them with me b/c it's so much easier for a new doc to get to know my child blah blah blah blah blah... i didn't even say anything to her b/c i knew i should have it with me, i usually have it with me - but i've NEVER been asked for it!

akaiya's blood pressure was 90/70 - seems low to me, but i have really low blood pressure too so maybe she's just like me. i asked the nurse about it and she said that some kids just have low blood pressure. so then we moved on to the EKG. i was told that kaiya would have to be very still for this test. oh my groceries. kaiya loves people, she gets really excited when people are doing things with her...this woman is putting little stickers all over kaiya's body, which is tickling her and making her laugh - then she sticks wires onto all of these stickers which gives kaiya something to play with. so now i have a kid that is giggling, pulling on wires, and bouncing around on the table b/c she is so happy to have all this attention - yeah, she's going to stay really still... so there was a miracle and the princess stayed still for short bursts which managed to work out for the test. the nurse left to get the doc....and comes back and tells me that b/c they don't have any records on my child they will have to do an echo too. (was she diggin at me about the records???) so now kaiya is delirious b/c she gets to have her shirt off, and there is goo being massaged onto her chest. she was yelling and taking big amounts of air into her lungs so she could yell louder. air in the lungs apparently obscures the view during an echo. my kid is so fun. so the nurse is a talker and is telling me all about her life, kaiya is yelling and jumping around, and i just want to see my kid's heart on the screen b/c apparently i think that i will be able to read it and see if something is wrong.... coincidentally, the little trisomy girl that is in kaiya's class just happened to have an appointment with the cardiologist earlier in the day. i'm sure the nurse was making a few comparisons between the two. this other little girl is very frail and quiet. here is kaiya - who more than makes up for her tiny size in decibels and rowdiness! so we complete the echo and wait for the doc.

he comes in and asks all the same interview questions the nurse asked...he was shocked that the cardiologist that saw kaiya when she was young didn't want to follow up on her. this panicked me A LOT! so he examined kaiya and said that he could hear the murmur. he then went to the video of the echo and showed me the hole in her heart between the two lower chambers. he said it's called an MVSD, a muscular ventricular septal defect. he said that children with this specific genetic defect (meaning trisomy 18) usually have weak or thin heart walls. kaiya's are thin but appear to be working well. he said that the hole in her heart is small and nothing to worry about. he said her heart is working great and that i shouldn't worry about her at all. he also said that he wants to see her once a year b/c kids with her condition sometimes have hearts that will start to function at a decreased capacity over time b/c of muscle tone (not something i had heard before).

so overall i guess the news is good. the doctor seemed very personable and nice. i didn't expect her to have a hole b/c i was told there were none, but apparently it's not something i have to worry about so i will try not to.

kaiya seemed to be bothered by some phlegm yesterday. she was gagging all throughout the day, especially when she layed on her back. i tried giving her stuff to drink, patting her on the back to get her to cough (okay, maybe it was more than a pat...), and nothing seemed to help her out. it was bothering her so much she wasn't able to get to sleep during the day for a nap. she finally puked up a bunch of phlegm at about midnight and was just fine afterward. she has been her usual bouncy happy self all day today.