Personally, I hate blog posts without pictures. That is why I tried so hard to find the battery charger to charge the batteries for my camera. Well, I didn't find it, so no pictures. Sorry.
Ryan and I took Jack up to Primary Children's yesterday for his yearly check-up. We started off with an echocardiogram. Jack always does really well and is still, so it usually goes pretty fast. This time it took a a bit longer and the lady who was doing it left to go check and make sure she had the images she needed. She came back with a doctor and I about freaked. I thought something was wrong for sure. Turns out that neither one of them could get a good picture of where the aorta and pulmonary vein rise up into the neck (or something like that. I understood it at the time, but I can't remember anymore). They said they saw enough to know it was fine. I think the doctor just though she could get better pictures than the girl doing the echo, but she couldn't. I thought that was a little funny.
After the echo we met with his doctor. This is only our second year with this doctor and I hate to say it, but I'm not a huge fan. I've decided that he is a good doctor and he is nice enough, he just isn't our original cardiologist Dr. Bradley. So, I went in with lots of questions for him because I wanted to get a better feel for him. After talking with him a bit I am feeling better about the whole situation. One of my favorite things that he does (he did it this year and last) is that he talks directly to Jack about what he can do to help himself and his heart be healthy. He told Jack that eating healthy and exercising are the most important things we can do to help Jackson with his heart. He talked about fruits and veggies with Jack and also told him to never drink Soda or juice. (Which I don't buy anyway, and Jack was proud to tell the doctor that).
I like how he specifically directed it to Jackson and he has already come home talking about how he wants to try some different veggies and eat even healthier than he does.
The doctor discussed the results of the echo and the MRI which was done in the summer with us. Both look great. He has mild leakage of both of the valves in his heart and very mild narrowing of the pulmonary vein. Both of which are very normal after surgery and at this point don't mean anything to us other than that he is doing great. He said he expects Jack to continue to do well and doesn't anticipate any problems at this point.
We also talked a little about activity restrictions for Jack. He says for now there are none. That scares me a little, but I suppose if he can ride space mountain he will be fine playing little league sports:) Since I was still a little nervous the doctor decided to put a Holter Monitor on Jack for 24 hours. It basically records his heart rhythms on a little computer thing and then we send it back to the doctor for him to read. Jack is liking wearing it a lot. It has 3 electrodes attached to his chest that lead to the little computer thing which he sticks in his pocket. We'll get the results in a week or so.
He also had an EKG which was perfect. The whole appointment was very reassuring and I'm glad that we are done with it for this year. Next year he will do another echo, EKG, and a stress test. He is most excited to do the stress test again since it has been 2 years since he got to run on their treadmill and he loved it.
We are so grateful for all the good news about Jackson's health. I feel so fortunate that I really only think about his heart once a year at check-up time. I know so many families whose children have heart defects that are much more complex that Jack's and who spend lots of time at the hospital. I think about those families and pray for those children often. We also pray for continued good health for him, especially as winter approaches. He has had a tough time with croup and asthma each year and we are hoping he will make it though this winter without any big episodes.
Ryan and I took Jack up to Primary Children's yesterday for his yearly check-up. We started off with an echocardiogram. Jack always does really well and is still, so it usually goes pretty fast. This time it took a a bit longer and the lady who was doing it left to go check and make sure she had the images she needed. She came back with a doctor and I about freaked. I thought something was wrong for sure. Turns out that neither one of them could get a good picture of where the aorta and pulmonary vein rise up into the neck (or something like that. I understood it at the time, but I can't remember anymore). They said they saw enough to know it was fine. I think the doctor just though she could get better pictures than the girl doing the echo, but she couldn't. I thought that was a little funny.
After the echo we met with his doctor. This is only our second year with this doctor and I hate to say it, but I'm not a huge fan. I've decided that he is a good doctor and he is nice enough, he just isn't our original cardiologist Dr. Bradley. So, I went in with lots of questions for him because I wanted to get a better feel for him. After talking with him a bit I am feeling better about the whole situation. One of my favorite things that he does (he did it this year and last) is that he talks directly to Jack about what he can do to help himself and his heart be healthy. He told Jack that eating healthy and exercising are the most important things we can do to help Jackson with his heart. He talked about fruits and veggies with Jack and also told him to never drink Soda or juice. (Which I don't buy anyway, and Jack was proud to tell the doctor that).
I like how he specifically directed it to Jackson and he has already come home talking about how he wants to try some different veggies and eat even healthier than he does.
The doctor discussed the results of the echo and the MRI which was done in the summer with us. Both look great. He has mild leakage of both of the valves in his heart and very mild narrowing of the pulmonary vein. Both of which are very normal after surgery and at this point don't mean anything to us other than that he is doing great. He said he expects Jack to continue to do well and doesn't anticipate any problems at this point.
We also talked a little about activity restrictions for Jack. He says for now there are none. That scares me a little, but I suppose if he can ride space mountain he will be fine playing little league sports:) Since I was still a little nervous the doctor decided to put a Holter Monitor on Jack for 24 hours. It basically records his heart rhythms on a little computer thing and then we send it back to the doctor for him to read. Jack is liking wearing it a lot. It has 3 electrodes attached to his chest that lead to the little computer thing which he sticks in his pocket. We'll get the results in a week or so.
He also had an EKG which was perfect. The whole appointment was very reassuring and I'm glad that we are done with it for this year. Next year he will do another echo, EKG, and a stress test. He is most excited to do the stress test again since it has been 2 years since he got to run on their treadmill and he loved it.
We are so grateful for all the good news about Jackson's health. I feel so fortunate that I really only think about his heart once a year at check-up time. I know so many families whose children have heart defects that are much more complex that Jack's and who spend lots of time at the hospital. I think about those families and pray for those children often. We also pray for continued good health for him, especially as winter approaches. He has had a tough time with croup and asthma each year and we are hoping he will make it though this winter without any big episodes.
