heart patient

Tuesday, I took Bucket in for his annual check-up.  I thought the biggest thing we'd have to discuss would be his new meds (they're not working as well as they did the first couple weeks and he's not eating much).  And we did have to spend some time on that subject.  Bucket has lost a couple pounds with the new meds and is now in danger of falling off the bottom of the weight charts.  He just doesn't have a couple pounds to lose.  So, we're going back to the previous med, that didn't affect his appetite, and going to see a Pediatric Psychiatrist, in the hopes of finding a med that will let him pay attention to life without the side-effects we've had with the others (paranoia, insomnia and no appetite).

But, it turns out we had even bigger things to discuss.  The pediatrician also found a heart murmur.  Bucket had never had one before, so we needed to get that looked at, as well.

Today was our visit with the pediatric cardiologist.  Bucket enjoyed being hooked up to the EKG and having wires all-over.  I told him he looked like a cyborg and that made it even better.  He brought a bunch of the sticker contact points home, so he could still look robotic.  The ultrasound was much harder.  It was long and he had to lay still ... but he did AMAZING for a boy with ADD (and unmedicated, at that.  I didn't want to give him anything until the cardiologist approved it.)  I found it fascinating to watch.  I could immediately see which valve was the problem one, since it moved differently:  It fluttered, almost bending, instead of closing straight and stiff.  After I made a few comments to Bucket about what the tech was doing, she asked me if I had done these before, since I seemed so familiar with the process.  Nope, I'm just a smart mama who pays attention.

And the verdict was: a mitral valve prolapse and an aortic root dilation.  In other words, the valve into his left ventricle doesn't close right and has some extra tissue and his aorta is a bit too large where it connects to the heart.  The valve problem isn't bad, just something they'll watch and it may give him trouble much later in life.  The aortic root dilation, together with the valve problem, could indicate a connective tissue disorder.  That would be bad and probably result in surgery, rather than risk the dilation getting worse and his aorta disconnecting from the heart (agh!).  He doesn't seem to have any clear secondary symptoms of such a disorder (he is a little tall, but not abnormally so, for example).  But, to be safe, the Dr wants him to see a specialist, who can rule out such things, at his follow-up in six months.

It looks like Bucket will have to give up his dreams of playing pro football.  His aortic dilation means no contact sports.  But otherwise, life will continue as normal, for now.  It makes me glad Bucket's not athletically inclined - he won't care about the Dr's restrictions.