Saturday, August 21, 2010

Cardiology check

Natalie met her new cardiologist on Friday.  We don't mention her heart very often because she only sees the cardiologist once a year--she has a bicuspid aortic valve that hasn't been causing any problems and hopefully won't for many years to come.

I'd been half expecting the letter I got a few months ago, stating that Natalie's cardiologist was taking an extended leave of absence.  I don't know how old he is, but I would guess he's over 80 years of age, and he was still going strong at her appointment last August.  Anyway, Natalie met her new cardiologist, who is quite young, and Natalie's heart looks and sounds great.

This was the first time since Natalie was a few weeks old in the NICU that she had an echo of her heart done.  I wasn't expecting it, but somehow she had an echo scheduled before the doctor visit, so we did it!  Tom had Lukas and Konrad at the park while I took Natalie and Dominik to the visit (Dominik's feeding time coincided, of course!)  I was so proud of how Natalie did during the echo.  It's an ultrasound of her heart, and she had to lie still for about 30 minutes while the tech checked different parts of her heart.  Of course there was a TV with video player, so Natalie watched Finding Nemo during the session.  I also gave her stickers to play with, and she was quiet and peaceful.  Natalie continues to amaze us at how she tolerates things she wouldn't have tolerated a year ago.

When the doctor met Natalie, Natalie pointed and said, "stethoscope".  She did the same with the two students who also listened to Natalie's heart.  I like the one student who actually talked to Natalie and said, "May I listen to your heart?"  Natalie said, "yeah!"

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