The Puddles

Ben had his six month check up for his heart on Friday at Texas Children’s. Good news. No significant changes. This is good.  They started taking additional measurements on his heart this time because new research has shown that . . . ask me sometimes about the research.  It’s too much to explain here.  Let’s just say that they took some measurements of his heart and it showed some anomalies, but since the doctor does not have anything to compare it too we are just going to watch it.  She is not worried. She just wants to keep an eye on it.  When we go in February and repeat the same tests, she will have another set of measurements to compare it too.  It was a good visit.  But boy we were tired when we were done.  We left the house at 7:00am and didn’t get home until almost 3:00pm.  We probably sat in the exam room for over an hour, and that wasn’t until 11:00am and our appointment was at 8:30.  Her first patient of the day had to be admitted to the hospital.  Chris kindly requested that she not make a habit of it that day.  Chris and I committed later that however bad we may feel that we have it sometimes at least THAT has never happened to us.  That would truly suck. (Knock on wood that that never happens to Ben.)

Ben is finally getting old enough for the doctor to ask him questions regarding his health.  He starts talking about all of the things that he did this summer.  Chris and I are sitting there going, “Don’t talk about camp. Don’t talk about camp. Don’t talk about camp.”  She told us at the last visit that Ben can’t go to camp.  We were breaking a big rule.  We don’t regret what we did, but we sure didn’t want to get in trouble for it!  I felt that we were in the principal’s office.  To Ben’s credit, our mind messages worked.  He didn’t talk about camp.  So Chris confessed. Daggoneit, Chris!  We were in the clear. Geez.  After Chris explained the camp scenario (he was there, only two days, lots of water, sometimes he just needs to be a kid), she was ok with it.

The cardiology department has lost some of its doctors to other hospitals (natural career moves) and since our other favorite specialist, Dr. Feig, has moved on to become head of his department at another hospital, we just wanted to make sure that Dr. Altman was going to stick around for a long time.  She is. Thank goodness.  She is so patient with Ben and does a great job treating us like humans (not always the case in medical land) that we would hate to loose her right now.

I know that we still have to get to the two year mark with his surgery (the percentages of the growth recurring go down some after that.  although it was the four year mark when his growth came back the last time.), but it still feels great to get good reports.  The doctor also put a title on his issues “aortic valve disease.”  Awesome. That is the name for his current issue.  It changes all the time, but for now that is the name.

So six more months.  Six months of no surgery, no major tests, no huge worries.  She even said he was old enough to start doing the treadmill test.  Cool.  That will be different.  Of course, she tells us that adding this test makes for a very long day.  Geez. We are already tired at the end of today, what will another three hours do to us?

Either way. Ben is good. He is still adorable.  He still has the most awesome scar. And he still tells the best stories.   All in all it was a good day.