I love my pediatrician. He's everything you want in a doctor for your kids ... thorough, meticulous, brilliant and loves what he does.
At Anna's one month appointment Dr. D spent a little longer than I expected listening to her chest, moving the stethoscope from one place to the next and back again, making sure he heard every millimeter of her heart. He was hearing a small murmur he wanted to make a note of for future visits. "I don't think it's anything to be concerned about. It sounds like a very common murmur we hear in babies and they typically grow out of it."
At her two month appointment Dr. D did the exact same thing. Anna was extremely quiet and calm allowing him to spend a number of minutes listening exclusively to her little murmur. Once he was done listening he explained more about what he heard and said he wanted her to get an echo done at the local Children's Mercy Hospital. He reassured me that he didn't think it was anything serious, he simply wanted the echo done so he knew how closely (if at all) to watch the murmur over coming year. He then asked me to restate what he'd explained ... wanting to make sure I fully understood why she was getting the echo so I wouldn't go home and turn Anna's little murmur into heart failure.
Today GR and I took Anna to Children's Mercy for her echo. She had to hold still for 10 seconds so the machine could accurately record her heart beating. Anna was in such a playful mood, wiggling and squirming with excitement. I finally realized that three smiling faces looking at her trying to help her hold still was just making her more excited, so we all turned around and stopped looking at her and the EKG was finally able to get a good reading of her heart.
Following the EKG, we met with the heart specialist who has known Dr. D for many years. Dr. D has a special interest in hearts and consequently has a very good ear for how the heart should sound at different stages of development. And it turns out Dr. D's initial diagnosis was correct. Anna has a very very tiny hole between the left and the right side of her heart, and as she grows it will most likely close up. The murmur - fyi, murmur simply means noise in the heart - in Anna's case was a quiet swooshing sound as blood moved through this little pin hole. As her body and heart grow during the coming months, the hole will close up on its own. Dr. D may have us go back around her one year birthday for a sonogram to confirm that the pinhole has closed up on it's own.
5 comments:
kate-
very informative! Eloise has a heart murmur- as we learned when she was 3 at a visit for an ear infection, however the pediatrician told us it was nothing to worry about and that she should grow out of it. But, you make it sound as if your DR was saying it should be gone at a year. I love my Dr. too, but I think at her next appt. I am going to question him further about it and inquire as to why she hasn't outgrown it...
thanks for the info.
Glad you were able to get such great medical care!!
What a blessing to have a Dr. who will spend the time to look and listen so carefully and then do something about it. And thank goodness it isn't something to worry about!
I am really grateful we have access to such great doctors!
Heather, Dr. D heard a murmur in Alex this summer at his 2 yr appt ... he made a note of, but said it was very common in a 2 year old and he'd probably grow out of it as well. Let's hope he and E both do!
I hadn't realized how broad the term 'murmur' was until this appointment with Anna. I'd always associated it with valve issues, etc. It's nice to know there can be innocent heart murmurs that we don't have to panic about.
That does sound like a really great pediatrician!
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