Several months ago, we met with a genetics doctor.while over in St. Petersburg. She wanted to meet with us to talk about our family history and have a look at Tyler to rule out any other issues that can sometimes go along with congenital heart defects. Sometimes kids with heart conditions have other issues as well, such as downs syndrome or cerebral palsy.
I have to admit, I did not want to go to this appointment because I thought that it was absolutely pointless. We were certain that Tyler did not have any other issues and this heart condition was just a random thing that happened. After all, no one else on either side of our family has heart problems.
So we spent a good hour or so filling out paper work and answering what seemed like 1000 questions about our family's medical history. She gave Tyler a good look over and reported that she did not see any signs of any other medical concerns and that there was no need to follow up with her. GREAT! But.. she did suggest that we have Nathan do an echo cardiogram just to rule out any minor defects that would indicate a genetic condition. WHAT!!!
I was stunned speechless! I was staring wide eyed open mouth at this dr because she just suggested that Nathan could possibly have some kind of heart defect! This thought had never ever crossed my mind! Not my Nathan who runs and plays and leads a perfectly normal life. Wouldn't we be able to tell if something was wrong?? She went on to explain that sometimes it could be something so minor that you wouldn't know without an echo.Uggg! after all we had been through with Tyler, just the thought of Nathan having anything heart related made me sick with fear.
So after several months of stalling, I finally made an appt for Nathan with our wonderful cardiologist. He did an EKG and an Echo and guess what? Nathan has a heart murmur. But Dr. Garcia called it an innocent murmur. He said that an innocent murmur is a noise caused by blood flow through the heart and is not a sign that something is wrong. Most children have an innocent murmur and it will most likely go away with age. They are commonly heard in children because their hearts are very close to their chest. Dr. Garicia felt confident that Nathan has a perfectly normal healthy heart.
What a big sigh of relief!
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This is good to read and explains some things for me. The last few times I've taken Ezra to the doctor he hears a heart murmur. He had an echo done and the results came back as nothing. But, next doctor visit they heard it again. So, maybe they are just hearing the "innocent" murmur and nothing serious shows up on the echo. THANKS for the post :-)...and sorry you had to deal with the stress.
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