We had the boy’s cardiology appointments this morning. We were there from 8:45 – 12:00 and the consensus is that they are both healthy and normal.

We started with blood pressure checks on arms and legs, pulse ox on their fingers, height and weight measurements, heart rate, and respiratory rate. Will went first through this procedure and acted quite grown up. He refused to say one word to anyone that talked to him, but cooperated quite nicely. Seth was not so cooperative, but we got through those tests fine.

Then we went to get EKG tests, which consists of many stickers stuck to their chest and tummy and then wires hooked to each one. This time when the man that was doing the test asked who wanted to go first, Will was quick to volunteer Seth. I had to hold Seth’s hands the whole time because all he wanted to do was pull all the stickers off, but he laid pretty still the whole time. Will got up next even though he still seemed nervous, but he lay perfectly still the entire time and was done much quicker.

After this, I had a conversation with the doctor via his assistant. They wanted us to go ahead and get the echocardiograms. After a few messages sent back and forth the agreement was that the doctor really would prefer the echos done since he wouldn’t be able to rule everything out without them. He did agree to do a reduced rate on them though. Unfortunately, the rate that I was given before I agreed to the echos turned out to be too low after the echos were done, but the doctor assured me he would see what he could do about lowering the bill.

Will did great with the echo. They turned on a cartoon for him and he was mesmerized the whole time. Seth, on the other hand, hated the whole thing. By this time we were well past naptime and he was quite tired and irritable. He squirmed and wriggled through most of the test and by the end was downright mad. You would have thought they were torturing him. But they were able to get all the angles they needed and we finally got to actually talk to the doctor in person.

The conversation with the doctor was quite short, as all he had to say was that everything was quite normal. It was interesting though, because the first thing he said when he saw Seth was: “He reminds me of Emma.” I agreed that he does look the most like Emma. He then took a look at Will and said, “Now, he looks like his Dad.” I am appreciative that he obviously kept the family picture I sent him awhile back. The detailed results are that Seth’s heart murmur is completely normal – a functional murmur that doesn’t signify any actual physical abnormality of the heart. His heart just sounds that way. Will actually did have a slight opening in one of the valves that is supposed to close after birth, but he said that also is considered completely normal.

Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray that the doctor will be successful in his negotiations with the hospital in getting our bill lowered, as he admitted that he had the echos done mainly for his satisfaction. And by the way, my attitude is quite improved since my post yesterday, in case you were wondering. 🙂