Mickey's Heart and stuff
Tomorrow Mickey has a big appointment with the pediatric cardiologist. When he went for his yearly echocardiogram (an ultrasound of the heart with lots of bells and whistles) back in May, the doc noticed a change in the size of his pulmonary artery, which was the first change in anything since his surgery at 6 weeks old. So, we have to go back tomorrow for another echo and a �lung perfusion scan�, which involves an injection of radioactive isotopes and being scanned to see how well the blood is oxygenated in the lungs. Something like that anyway.
Boy, is that going to be a ton of fun! Mickey hates going to the doctor, especially when they start with the poking and prodding. The most painful part of the ordeal will be the injection, everything else is just an annoying inconvenience for the boy. He�ll have the scan, then a chest x-ray (ought to be a joy), an EKG (he loves it when they stick shit on him so much) and then the echo, which requires him to lay still for roughly 45 minutes. Yah right. They used to sedate him for it, but he�s too old for that now.
And I�m worried. He seems okay, doesn�t show any cardiac symptoms at all, but that doesn�t necessarily mean anything. No further surgery has ever been mentioned, although a cardiac catheter has been alluded to in past visits. Not quite as stressful as surgery, but still a big deal. Nothing sucks more than watching your child going through shit like that. His surgery was one of the toughest things I ever went through with my kids.
I�ve tried not to take his good health for granted, but he�s done so well that it�s hard not to. Sometimes I forget that he�s a cardiac patient and will be for the rest of his life. =( I�m also thankful that he was born in the year 2000, when the procedures had advanced enough that his prognosis is much better had he been born 15 to 20 years before.
And I�m thankful for Little hearts , which I�ve belonged to since Mickey�s diagnosis at age 2 weeks. I got an incredible amount of support and went into his surgery with a ton of information. Not too mention hearing form folks who�s kids had had similar defects and procedures. Poor Lenore will likely choke if she sees referrals from my nasty little diary! ;) Wonder if she�ll guess it�s me. Mickey is in the picture on the homepage, but there's a lot of other kids there, too. He's in the 2004 slideshow, with Spiderman face. I don't think he's the only one, though. Anyway, his name starts with "A".
Anyway. Enough on that. I�ve got a busy day ahead, as I�m braving the crowds and going shopping this afternoon, once Hub gets home from bringing Butthead to Driver�s Ed. Yeah, it ought to be a blast. I love crowds so much. At least I�ll be alone and not have to worry about losing the kiddos.
I chatted with Yahoo man yesterday for like, oh, three hours or so. Didn�t have quite the effect on me as it did a few weeks ago. Oh well.
Funny kid quote of the weekend. Minnie wasn�t liking something that Beavis was doing the other day and screeched in his face (he probably deserved it). His reaction?
�Minnie, why do you always have to be such a bitch ?!?�.
I had to leave the room. I was laughing so hard I about pissed myself. Then I had to compose myself and scold Beavis for it. That wasn�t easy.
Anyway, kids need to eat. Then Mom has to go spend some cash money.
Most likely won�t update tomorrow, at least not before Mickey�s appointment, which is in the afternoon. And, if you missed it and have a few to read a long entry, go back one entry and read about Hub�s nutty family. I had a blast writing that one.
Anyway, ciao!