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August 01, 2005
A major hurdle passed
In spite of being told by Dr. D that Emma's heart murmur is no big deal, we've been a little concerned. The phrase that elicited that concern was "slightly louder than normal" for an innocent murmur. Today, we laid that concern to rest.
I drove back to Concord at lunch to meet Lara, with Emma in tow, at the Sanger Clinic. While Lara filled out Paperwork™, I entertained the kid. Or rather, Barney Fife and Andy Griffith entertained her. I'm not above using TV when the waiting room contains no toys to speak of. Besides, I couldn't turn it off, and there are worse things she could watch.
In the EKG room, the nurse who came to set up the reading was a large, comfortable-looking sort of woman, with a ready smile and a calm voice. That did wonders for Emma. Rather than being terrified of yet another nurse, she instead spent her time playing with the EKG electrodes. Mommy and Daddy spent their time keeping her occupied with the two extras, and away from the ten or so stuck all over her torso.
After about 20 minutes, the doctor came in with an extremely simple and reassuring diagnosis: innocent murmur. "On any forms where they ask about health conditions," he said, "don't even bother mentioning it." We won't.
In spite of being told beforehand that it was probably nothing, I think we both walked away feeling that perhaps we had dodged a bullet. In any even, Emma's heart is healthy, and that's what counts.
Posted by brlittle at August 1, 2005 11:10 AM