Yearly Cardiology Appointment

Today we went to see the cardiologist to check up on Dylan's heart. Dylan is getting older now (4 1/2!), so I felt like I needed to talk to him ahead of time and explain what we were going to be doing. I brought it up yesterday and his reaction surprised me.....tears and a very adamant, "I don't want to go to the doctor!!" I tried talking to him again this morning about how he had a very special heart and that they doctors needed to check and make sure that it was working really great still, and he had the same reaction. I asked him why he didn't want to go, and he kept on telling me that it wasn't going to be fun. After saying a prayer in my heart and talking with him a little more, he finally articulated what he was afraid of. He thought that having the heart doctor check out his heart meant that he was going to have surgery today. Oh my goodness! Poor boy! I quickly explained that there were special machines that would help the doctor see what Dylan's heart was doing without having to cut him on his "line" again. Thankfully, he calmed down after that and went willingly, although he was very nervous.

 We started our appointment with an EKG, which Dylan held still for, even though he didn't like those sticky stickers and all of those wires attached to him.

And then he had an ECHO that lasted about 40 minutes or so. He had Diego to distract him on the TV, but it was a long time to hold still with a probe in his face and goopy stuff on his chest, neck and stomach. He did awesome though and we got through it together!

And then we waited for the results. Here is Dylan feeling more comfortable as we waited to talk to the doctor. "I like going to the doctor. They're nice!"

We met with a new doc today....ours is out recovering from hip surgery. She was very nice and was great with Dylan. His heart hasn't changed very much since last year, which is very good news. The main thing that they are looking for is how much back flow is occurring in the pulmonary valve. Since it doesn't close all the way, there is a leak. When that leak becomes big enough, they will have to do a total valve replacement. But it doesn't look like it has changed much from last year. There were a couple of new things that I hadn't heard before. 1) Dylan has a small hole in his heart between the two upper chambers. At this point it is not affecting the function of his heart. They will keep an eye on it as they check him every year. 2) There is a small area at the bottom of the patch that they used to repair the big hole he had in his heart that has formed into a bump of tissue. This bump is not creating a problem at this time, but over time if it increases in size it could obstruct the blood flowing into the aorta; the bump sits right at the opening of the aorta. It would then affect the pumping chamber, making it too muscular as it would have to work harder to push the blood past the obstruction, creating a similar problem to what Dylan's other pumping chamber looked like before his open heart surgery. But right now, these additional things aren't any cause for concern. 

So we got a pass for the next year, to just live life normally! I can see that Dylan is growing and thriving, so I am not worried about him right now. But going to these appointments always makes me feel apprehensive, and makes me remember where we've been. It also makes me so thankful for where we are right now, and that we have been given more time with this cute kid. I always appreciate reminders to not take the health of my children for granted. We are so very blessed.

With the holidays almost upon us, Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas from our family to yours!