6 Month Cardiac Echo

In general, no news is good news on this blog.  But today I actually have good news.  Kate had her six month cardiac echo check up.  We got there at 8:45 and left a little after noon.  Typical.  This picture is the cardiac echo in process.  What you can't see is a screen playing Ice Age off to the right. I didn't watch much of the echo  this time.  I glance enough to make out her ventricles and her valves and then I start seeing things that don't exist; valve leaks, areas too large, etc.  So,  I played Kings Around the Corner on my phone.  The tech must have thought I was pretty unconcerned. If he only knew.

They also hook EKG up to Kate and monitor her the entire time.  Good thing for electronics to keep us from reality.  Kate and her movie,  me and my iPhone.  We did have books as well, by the way.  Never leave home without one.  Or two.

After the echo we waited yet again in the cardiac waiting area.  So loud, kids,  a movie playing.  I told the reception gal that if she calls for me, and I don't respond,  it's because I'm partly deaf.  She laughed and said, "Yeah, it's really loud out there."  I must have given her a weird look because she then said, "Oh, you're serious."  Well, yeah, I'm serious.  Who tells people they are deaf and not mean it?  I would have said it's stinking loud in here and I can't hear a thing,  if I were trying to make that point.  Slight rant from the deafy here.  Sometimes I wish I were wearing a sign that announced my hearing state.  Double edged sword,  people can't tell,  which can be nice.  Pain in the butt because people can't tell and think I'm ignoring them or just plain stupid.  I'm a little stupid,  but still :)

We were finally shown to a room and then had no less than four interns come in and ask us questions,  taking the history, etc.  Dr. Grossfeld finally showed up.  At this point I was pretty anxious and just wanted to hear that nothing had changed and we were cool.  But, being the nice Dr. he is,  we exchanged the pleasantries first. Here's the good news,  everything looks great.  Well, not great, but no worse than it was six months ago.  We are staying on the beta blocker and continuing with decreased activity level.  Same as before.  Huge relief.

Kate also saw a physical therapist on Tuesday and was given some exercises to strengthen her muscles.  She still walks with a little twist in her gait and still walks up and down the stairs walking sideways.  Most of her issues,  they think,  are because her muscles are weak.  Exercises should help.  Checking with insurance about getting more treatments with the physical therapist. 

As a final note,  I finished my RN Refresher course at UCSD and start working on my classes for Health Informatics next week.  They tell me I need a math class!!  Rotten news for math illiterate people like me.  Wish me luck, heaven knows I will need it.