Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Annabelle's Ornery Assault on the Heart Doctor

When Annabelle was a couple of months old, she had a checkup and the doctors discovered a heart murmur. They didn't think it was a big deal but they referred us to a cardiologist just to be sure. It turned out that it really wasn't that big of a deal she just has mild Pulmonary Valve Stenosis, which sounds way worse than it really is, and a small hole which is a common occurence. However, they wanted to be sure that it wouldn't get worse or anything so they set up another appointment to check up on her heart which was yesterday. Little Annabelle decided that it would be a wonderful day to prove that she is her father's daughter and set out on an ornery streak that (though it kept them all in good spirits) made it very difficult for her doctors to get the information they needed in a timely manner. What exactly did a 4 1/2 month old manage to do to create such havoc you ask? Where to begin....

The first doctor who came into the room wanted to check Miss A's blood pressure, but she was having none of that (My fiance was trying to find a parking spot during this first incident so he wasn't present for this one).The doctor first tried to put the bp cuff around A's leg, and A decided to continuously lift the bottom half of her body up and down and kick the doctor, and all around refused to sit still for more than the amount of time it took to give the doctor false hope that the bp could finally be measured. Then the doctor thought it might be a smart idea to put the cuff on A's arm instead....so A does the exact same thing on with the upper half of her body, mind you A was smiling her classic gummy smile the entire time. This went on for a good 20-30 minutes until by some miracle the bp was finally taken. The doctor also took Miss A's weight and length (15lbs 12 oz, 25inches), and Miss A almost managed to roll off the scale from wiggling so much. However, this was not the end of Miss A's assault....

A while later (my fiance had finally found a parking spot and was now in the room as well) another doctor came in with a med student in tow, with the brilliant plan of showing the student how to detect a murmur on a stethoscope. Of course I obliged knowing fully well that it would probably be a repeat of the first doctor's experience but it was too hilarious of an opportunity to pass up.(Not to mention Miss A's daddy missed the first one!) As I expected it was an almost identical situation to the first one, and this one ended with a wiggling, squealing Miss A having two limbs held down by each doctor just to hear her heartbeat, and neither one managed to even  do that. She also managed to pee all over the doctor when he tried to place the stethoscope lower (me and my fiance were in stitches!). But Miss A still had one more act of mischief to go.

Because of the focus being mainly on her heart, Miss A had to have a sonogram done of her chest so that the defects could actually be viewed, and the progress or lack there of could be viewed. The sonogram wand needs to be held steady and still to pick up an accurate reading and of course Miss A had to intervene again. For the next 30min or so between the technician's pinky and the sonogram wand, Miss A was utterly fascinated, the poor woman's finger was rarely dry and the wand was rarely held steady and still. This led to me holding one hand, and my fiance holding back the other, and occasionally a foot or two from reaching Miss A's mouth. The entire process took at least twice as long as it really should have, but it seems like myself, no one can really be irritated by Miss A's overall friendly and happy demeanor.

After the sonogram we went back to the examination room to wait for the result of the sonogram. By the time the second doctor and his student, along with the cardiologist finally came in , Miss A had finally tired herself out from all of her mischief and never had a clue that they were there. They actually managed to finally hear something through their stethoscope other than squeals and raspberries.

I can only hope for the sake of the doctor's that Miss A manages to be a little calmer next time, but as that won't be for six months, the cardiologist mentioned that she may be cruising or even walking by then....God help them.

In case you were wondering about the outcome of her appointment, the hole has either gotten so small that it can't be seen or it has closed up on it's own. And the stenosis is still so mild that it's not likely to effect the quality of her life at all :)