can you believe, we actually got to see a couple DOCTORS this weekend!!

so, yesterday, asher wasn't doing so well again. after some humming and hawing (did i spell that right?) yesterday, i took him in to emerg in london.

they took us into Ambulatory Care (a rarity in asherland... lately we've been in J-bed. sometimes i think they should just put up a sign that says "asher's bed"... oh, wait, that would imply we're there all the time. so... scratch that). after going through asher's whole medical history with the med student (so it's a miracle we're home already, haha), dr helleman came over. i have to say, i really like her. first off, she loves asher. second, she's awesome. when asher comes in, she listens to my concerns, and she is very careful to investigate fully. and she's not afraid to consult cardio, if need be. (translation: she calls them every time she sees asher.)

during her assessment, she heard the murmur. it concerned her a bit, since she remembers distinctly not hearing it when she saw us in august. so she ordered a chest x-ray and ECG, both of which were "unremarkable." then she called the on-call cardiologist, who was, you may recall, dr rauch.

uh-oh, i thought. this could be weird. i hope he's cool.


turns out, he was. he told her that he wanted to see asher and do an echo today, so we were to meet him outside the clinic at noon.

cut to today. asher slept in and wasn't in the best of moods, but he was tolerable. so off we went to church. he was looking ok, and i wasn't too concerned about him, so i put him in his class, but told them what was going on and to call me if he did anything "asher-ish."

i didn't get called. phew!

after church, however, he was pretty tired. usually he's running all over the church after sunday school, because he has a great time and is so energized by the crafts and singing and playing with the other kids. today, however, he walked, following at a distance, and complaining because we were going too fast.

off we went to the hospital. (good to know: it only takes about 7 minutes to get from the church to the hospital. believe me, i was watching the clock.) we parked across the street, where parking is free. {wink} but that meant that we had to walk across the street. sigh. i should have known, asher cried and wanted to be carried the whole way. i compromised with him, and carried him in the intersections. (he's now up to 15.2 kg - 33 lbs... ish... i'm metric only with this kid, so i'm guessing at the conversion there - and i was in high heels, so there was no way i could carry him the whole way.) but wow! was he cranky!!! and puffy, actually. those eyes just aren't right. that has nothing to do with the fatigue and irritability, but it's worth noting, so there you go.

but we got into the hospital, and the kids automatically got themselves some hand sanitizer, and asher flipped out on me because he wanted to get his own without help. of course, he had trouble with that, and he got more frustrated, and then it was foamy, which he didn't like, so that was another tantrum.

we got to the clinic a couple minutes early, so the kids sat and chatted (asher complained but stopped crying, though he did snap at bram a couple times), and i pondered the interaction of hypoglycemia, heart function and seizures. sadly, i'm not even joking. i know, i'm a nerd. haha

dr rauch arrived and chatted with the kids for a couple minutes, introduced himself to all of them, and let us into the clinic. he took asher into the echo lab. asher co-operated and laid down on the bed. he wasn't thrilled, but he was calm. he wanted to help with the echo, and dr rauch joked that maybe when asher's a bit older, he can do his own echo and doc will have coffee with me. haha but the echo went well, asher was very patient, and doc explained to me everything that he was looking at. honestly, i don't remember the last time anyone ever did that, probably not since the first few post-hybrid echoes with pepy and buffo. so things look a lot different in there now.

at one point, i made some comment like, "i told dr welisch we wouldn't make it till our next appointment." and he said, "when are you here next?" "thursday," i told him. "but you're going to sick kids on tuesday, right?" "um... yes." now, here's what's interesting about that. our paeds didn't tell him that. i didn't tell him that. and i don't remember telling dr helleman about that last night. so... um... how does he know that?? my theory is that dr russell called and told him, since SickKids is much better at keeping london in the loop than london is at keeping SickKids in the loop. not that it really matters, i'm just saying...

anyway, when he was done, he told me what he thought. he couldn't see anything on the echo that could be causing all the symptoms. asher's liver seemed fine, and his urine last night showed nothing out of the ordinary (urea and creatinine were fine, no infection, and he's not leaking protein there). he also told me that sometimes fontans can leak protein through their gut. "ah, PLE," i said, "trust me, i'd be telling a cardiologist if asher had diarrhea." and since asher is pooping just fine (c'mon, you know you were wondering. haha), PLE is not a problem, either. "basically," quothe the doc, "i don't know. but we've eliminated some big things, so that's good."

so, a lot of time in the hospital to hear, "i don't know." sigh.

i'm now feeling much more relaxed going into our appointment in toronto on tuesday. even if dr russell doesn't find anything on the echo, i am confident that she will continue to investigate. she knows us both well enough by now to know that, when i say there's a problem... it means there's a problem.

the thing is... this is all so familiar. this has happened before, and london saw nothing on the echo, and dr russell saw nothing on the echo... but she believed me and admitted asher, and ended up doing a cath. and they found problems with function and pressures. nice.

but like i said, i'm feeling better about all this now. last night, i'll admit, i was pretty upset about all of this. i was scared and crying... yeah, it wasn't pretty. but i prayed some, and this afternoon, i'm feeling better. asher's not, mind you, but i am. so, at least i can help him through the next little while, and advocate effectively for him.

so there's the update for today. i'm hoping there won't be anything else to report until tuesday. talk to you later!