Berkley's Trip to the Cardiologist...

Back in October at Berkley's 6 year well child his pediatrician finished the exam and casually said to me, "He needs to see a cardiologist, he has an irregular heart beat." And left the room.  While he was getting dressed I had a second to process, and was still in denial.  This could NOT be happening again.

As she came back I asked her to repeat what she said, she did and I think I nodded or something. Anyhow, of course on the way home I call Rusty bawling. He did the logical thing, took Berk over to "Dr. Pops" and he listened and thought he could hear something too.  I called the trusty APCC the next day and booked the first available with Braden's doc at the PCH office in Dec.

The day came and we pulled him out of school and headed to Phoenix Children's Hospital to the office there. We had big bro Braden give him the low down on the office, what would happen etc. He wasn't terribly nervous, he was extra excited to get to play his iTouch in the middle of a school day.

 Height and weight.

 EKG- he laid very still for this, thanks to some insightful words from big brother.

 I think it is funny that they do the blood pressure on not just one arm, but both as well as BOTH legs. That's why they are the specialists I guess.

 After trying to get the stickers off himself, he let Daddy help.

 He asked me to take a picture of his "Polka Dots"that he got from taking the stickers off. This was another thing he was warned about from Braden. Pretty cute.

When I scheduled the appointment back in October, I had made the decision to wait to see our regular Dr instead of the first available. That's why it took so long to get it. Anyhow, the night before the appointment the office called and said there was a scheduling conflict and could we please see the NP instead. I flipped my "Mama Bear" switch and said "No, no we cannot!" I am sure you can understand why, but the lady on the phone needed convincing, because he was a new patient with no history there.  When I explained that his older brother had 10 years experience there, she put me on hold for about 10 minutes, and when she came back she said it was fine, they would leave my appointment where it was and with Dr N. So, imagine my surprise when after the EKG, some person I didn't know walked in!

He introduced himself as Dr N's NP, and told us there was a newborn baby with a CHD that they were trying to get a bed for at PCH, and Dr N was the one in charge of intakes that day. Of course, we understood, and he told us we would still see Dr N, it would just be a bit.  Fine by us! After the exam the NP said he didn't hear any abnormal rhythms. The EKG showed a normal rhythm as well. I had been trying not to stress about the whole thing, but you can imagine the weight that was lifted right then. A few minutes later in strolled Dr N, he listened and listened to Berk. He had him sit up, lay down and listened. He concluded the same thing. No irregular heart beat. He said, our PCP very well could have heard something at the time, but since these types of things are "electrical" (vs Braden's which was "structural") sometimes they work themselves out.

Of course, being Dr N, he told us what to watch for in the future. In case it happened again, but he reassured us that currently Berkley's heart was completely normal. We then chatted for about 20 minutes with the NP about Braden. It is always fun to feel like your child is a doctor's favorite patient. So, I am not sure why we had to go through this little trial but we did, and I have to give myself props for not completely losing it every time I thought about what the outcome could have been.  Yipee for healthy hearts.