The Cardiologist - Morgan's VSD

Back in November, Morgan had a Echocardiogram on her heart. This was done to check on her Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) a hole in the wall separating the two lower chambers of the heart. The Echo was also to ensure that her Pulmonary Hypertension did not return after we had weaned her off Sildenafil, the drug (as well as all the additional medical intervention) that saved her life. The results were good. No evidence of Pulmonary Hypertension and the VSD appeared to be much smaller than before.

So we had the follow-up appointment this week.

Both Kyle and Morgan had been sick this week which meant absolutely no sleep for me. Kyle caught another cold and inevitably, Morgan caught it a few days later. She was tired and miserable with a great deal of stuff coming out of her nose. I decided to swing by our Pediatrician before heading up the Hospital. It was day 3 of her cold and a good idea to make sure she wasn't developing any secondary problems and thankfully proved to be doing alright. Her nose needed to be suctioned out though. This is never a pleasant experience for either of us but gave her a chance to finally rest comfortably because she could breath easily. Good. That should buy me enough time to get through the appointment with the Cardiologist.

Kyle was with us. I figured it would be a relatively short visit since there was no mention of doing another Echo. So big brother was tagging along and doing everything in his power to distract me from the task at hand. This is something he is very good at. But I was glad to have him along and I'm sure Morgan was as well.

So they did an EKG and examination. The Cardiologist asked me to wait while she ran everything by the head of Cardiology to make sure they are in agreement that everything looks fine from the EKG. When she came back I was surprised to hear that the head Cardiologist wanted to perform an Echo on her immediately as it had been a while since her last one. So much for a short appointment. It was a good thing I brought the tablet so Kyle could play his games.

I was a little worried that maybe they didn't like what they saw and that is the reason they wanted to do the Echo. I silenced the worrisome thought. Something I'm getting better at doing. So we were led into a dark room where Morgan was laid on a hospital bed and a tech began the Echo. Kyle thought it was cool. He said, "Wow, what's that?" "That's Morgan's heart, they are looking at it to make sure that it's healthy." I replied. "Wow!" He said again.

After the Echo was completed, we were sent back to the examination room to wait. And wait. And wait. I fed and changed Morgan and tried to keep Kyle from climbing the walls. He was tired of playing his games by then. I checked the time, 4:45 PM. We had been there for two and a half hours. Then finally, the door opened and the head of Cardiology and Morgan's Cardiologist strolled in.
"We looked at her Echo and it appears that the VSD has closed." They then began to tell me the details and spoke about the next time they would want to see her. Not for another two years! "Your daughter's heart looks normal. Do you have any questions?" "None that I can think of." I replied. And with that, we packed up to leave.

Normal, my daughter's heart looks normal! NORMAL!

Thus far, this is not a word that has been used with Morgan much. No need for heart surgery. Her VSD closed on its own! Her heart looks NORMAL!

So, teary eyed and sleep deprived, with two little one's asleep in the back, I smiled all the way home.