Cardiology Visit

Today went quite well at the EP Cardiologist!  And he was kind enough to take some time to check Little D's heart as well for my own peace of mind :o).

Miss K first...

Still weighing in at 18 pounds even.  And has decided she hates the blood pressure cuff and the EKG "stickers" though she is totally fine with the doctors listening to her heart with a stethoscope lol.  Her EKG is perfectly normal.  Her heart rate was 110 BPM.  Blood pressure was a bit high but she was wiggling through the check so the assistant is sure it wasn't accurate.  The EP Cardiologist listened to her heart extra long today and diagnosed her with having a small murmur :o(, something we did not know before.  But he's not concerned mainly because her EKG is normal.  Now I am concerned though lol, my Mommy brain is working extra hard on it wondering if it's a genetic thing or if it was caused by medications or SVT episodes, etc., etc., etc.  As long as the EP Cardiologist is keeping an eye on her I may be able to relax though, and lucky for us I don't have the time to research it to a large extent and have "Dr. Google" scare me lol.  Miss K is doing great on her 3.2mL Propanolol 3 times a day and 1.2mL Digoxin twice a day.  We have seen no SVT episodes since just before Christmas **Knock on wood!** and the EP Cardiologist was happy to hear it, especially happy to hear it wasn't unexplained, that it was caused by a fever and dehydration and it was easy to break.  We haven't talked to him in person since before he prescribed Digoxin over the phone so today he talked a bit more in depth about his thoughts on that.  He said normally when a child is started on a medication like Amiodarone they are not able to put them on a beta blocker successfully, Miss K is a rare case and he is surprised we have been successful putting her on the Digoxin after taking her off of Amiodarone :o).  So the new plan is to keep her on her current medications and doses and wait and see what happens.  Little did I know this follow up schedule we've been following is not "normal" protocol for SVT patients, to us it is "normal" because it's all we know.  Today our EP Cardiologist told us he usually see's his SVT patients 2 months after initial diagnosis and then every 6 months until 18 months old and then he moves them to once a year until all is well.  Miss K went every 2 months from the day of diagnosis and wasn't moved to 6 month "status" until she was 13 months old, now at 19 months she's still at 6 month "status" unless I feel she is doing great and I'm not concerned about anything, in which case I can push her next appointment to a year.  So, other than her new murmur, Miss K is doing great with her PJRT :o).

Little D...

Birth weight was 7 pounds 4 ounces and length was 18 inches...he's now 5 weeks old and weighs 10 pounds 1 ounce and is 23.5 inches.  He's most definitely growing well, he has Big Brother and Miss K beat on the weight at this point as both of them took until 4-5 months old to hit 10 pounds lol.  We did not do an EKG, the EP Cardiologist did not feel it was necessary today, we did try to get a blood pressure but he wouldn't hold still so we never got a reading at all.  The EP Cardiologist listened to his heart for a good, long time and diagnosed him with a murmur as well :o(.  As of right now he feels it's a normal newborn murmur that he will most likely outgrow.  He does not want any follow up appointments with him, he just told me to ask the Pediatrician if he heard it at his 2 week check up and to ask him to keep a close eye on it himself, if the Pediatrician feels it's a complication he will send us to the Cardiologist in the future.

After hearing that two of my littles have a heart murmur I am concerned about Big Brother.  I wish I could have predicted this, I would have taken Big Brother into the exam room with me rather than leaving him with Grandma in the waiting area, this way the EP Cardiologist could have listened to his heart as well.  Now I plan to take Big Brother with me to Little D's 2 month well child exam and ask our Pediatrician to listen very well and make sure he doesn't hear anything.  Yes, I'm being paranoid Mommy here but I need to know that all 3 of my kiddos are OK.  On a lighter note here, we did have Big Brother checked out by the Pediatrician last fall when he told me his heart was "growling" at him and "beating faster", they even went as far as doing an EKG for my peace of mind and it came back normal, the Pediatrician decided it was more than likely Big Brother's Reflux rearing it's head again rather than anything to do with his heart.  At least we have had a normal EKG reading and I can feel that IF he has a murmur it's apparently not affecting him in any harmful way.  I will update when I get him in to be checked out.

Whew.  What a long day dragging 3 kids around all day, so glad I didn't try that adventure alone!  I asked my mom to come with and she ended up bringing my little sister so I had 4 extra hands and it was a very good thing, Grandma was able to help with Big Brother in the waiting area (my little sister's choice since she didn't feel comfortable waiting out there without an adult {she's only 13}) and my sister came to the exam room with me to help with the two kids, which was a huge help since it ended up being extremely chaotic WITH her help, I can't imagine how much harder it would have been with just me in there!  So glad the day is over, even with the new information and worries, at least we all made it through our first real adventure out of the house with 3 kids lol, not sure I want to do it again for quite a while.