Thursday, October 21, 2010

WHA-?!?!

today we went for our regularly-scheduled cardio appointment in london. and all in all, it was... um... interesting. but in a good way, don't worry. {wink}

first, we went in for the pacemaker check. no problems there. awesome.

then, the ECG. which asher did himself. he got the leads, attached the stickies, and put them all on his chest, legs and arms. sure, the tech told him where to put them, but he put them on. you know you spend a lot of time in hospitals when... haha

then the fellow came in. he's working toward becoming an adult cardiologist, but to become an adult cardio, you have to do a two-month rotation in paeds because, in the words of a fellow from a couple years ago, "some of these kids grow up, and we need to be prepared for when they do." frankly, i prefer buffo's explanation: "if neither of us [paeds cardios] is available, the adult docs can come and check him out, and they'll have some idea of what they're dealing with." a much more palatable explanation, if you ask me (and yes, i'm choosing to ignore the idea of all paeds cardios being unavailable). anyway, dr chew asked a bunch of questions and listened to some of my answers, and listened to asher. and before you ask, yes, he heard the murmur, but said that it wasn't very loud, so it's not too concerning. um, ok... anyhoo...

then he went and got dr w, our cardiologist. she came in and checked asher out, and said that he looks pretty good, and since HCT is for failure, she's comfortable with dr russell's decision to stop it. i told her that dr russell had said that, if he got too puffy without it, he might be one of those kids who needs it every other day, and that since asher, having missed two doses, is now getting pretty puffy, i'm going to do the every-other-day thing. so she looked at him and said, "yes, his eyes are looking a little puffy." and she didn't argue with my dosing decision, so i'm going ahead with it.

and let's see, what else?... hmm... i was sure there was something else to report about the appointment... what was it again?... oh, yes, i remember!

ASHER DOESN'T NEED TO GO BACK FOR SIX MONTHS!!!!!!!!

this, my friends, doesn't happen in asherland... at least not in cardio province. and yet... here we are!!!!! is anyone else doing a happy dance right now, or is it just me??

so we got back in april for an ECG, echo, pacemaker check, and holter. ugh, the holter. the bane of pacer-life. i hate holters. pain in the arse, they are. but, ah well. so it goes. i do what i have to do, and hey, it's not for six more months, so really, WHO CARES?!?!?!

after the appointment, i had to rush to make it to an appointment for myself. i've been having some health issues of my own lately (nothing too major, but needs to be dealt with... blerg). so we flew back to st thomas, i dropped asher off at his dad's, and raced to my appointment. i got there a few minutes late, and then waited for the doc to arrive. once she did, she was very nice, and well, i'm heading back to her office on tuesday for an ultrasound, bloodwork results, and hopefully, a plan.

so when you're praying next time (and whenever you think about it thereafter), please thank God that asher has improved so much in just a few days. sure, the murmur is still there, but cardio isn't concerned about it, so that's wonderful! and then, when you're done with that, please pray for me. i'll admit, i'm a little freaked out right now, so please pray that i'll have peace and that doc will have some answers for me. also, please continue for my friend shawna, who is having some pretty major health issues in and of themselves, but now she has also been diagnosed with some complications with her pregnancy. please, please pray for her and the baby. it's a scary situation, so please pray for her, the docs, her husband and their children, including the one on the way. thank-you.

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