Cardio update

It was time for Jed's yearly visit to the cardiologist. Bit over one year since the surgery. Jed is excited. No one else in PreK has a cardiologist, and neither does Gus. He talks about visiting her by name, just verifying several times that I will be with him the entire time. I, on the other hand, am mildly PTSD remembering last year and hoping the results a year later don't warrant another surgery. Luckily I'm a decent actress, so Jed romps happily along beside me to the bus. As we ride the bus to Children's Hospital, it becomes clear that Jed's preferred unit of height is a Daddy. "Look, Mommy! That (ten-story hospital) building is taller than Daddy!" We check in and get height (3'6"), weight (41 lbs) and blood pressure. The check-in lady hands me a bunch of papers to update with his symptoms since last time. There are no symptoms since last time, so I hand them back. Jed rocks his EKG, then we eat our lunches in the waiting room. Well, Jed eats most of him lunch and as much of mine as he can wangle me out of. I promise him chocolate after we see his cardiologist. Then it's time for the echo. Y'all may remember the eventful first drunk-baby echo that Jed had. This one is eminently more boring. He watches Toy Story with a loose grip on my hand for about an hour while the echo techs take pictures of his heart from lots of angles. Then we go to wait for the cardiologist to look over all the data. Another nurse comes in to wonder why I didn't fill out the papers. Because there have been no updates (or even events) since last year. He's not on any medicine? Just his vitamin, which is already on the chart. Not even anything herbal? Nothing, no symptoms, no medication. No one who doesn't see this kid without his shirt on would imagine that he was born with only three chambers in his heart. She humphs a bit in a nice way and heads out, and I have avoided filling out three sheets of paperwork for no reason. Small victories. I meant to bring toys, but forgot, so we improvised a game of catch-the-pen. Jed whines a bit about wanting chocolate, but I remind him after the doctor. She eventually comes in and listens to his heart through the stethoscope. Then he gets to listen to his heart (and my bellybutton) through the stethoscope. She says the holes that were patched last year are healed up, and the small tricuspid valve that we've been watching is still small, but doing fine under the new blood pressure, and he is great. We schedule for next year and go to catch the bus back to school. I found a quarter on the ground for Jed on the way in, and he's been waiting for two hours to find the donation box for the hospital so that kids who don't have enough money can get the care they need. Yes, he's that sweet. Once we arrive at the bus stop I break out the chocolate. Jed is surprised. "Mommy, I forgot about the chocolate!" Heh. Mommy never forgets about chocolate. Back on the bus, back to school where the other kids are waking up from nap, back on the bus to work. I sit down at my desk and give thanks for a small but healthy heart on my fabulous boy. P.S. As we got off the bus, we passed a row of magazine stands. Magazine stands are sources of endless fascination for my children, they must look inside every one. This day Jed decided that he needed one of the magazines to read at the doctor's office. He selected his favorite and carried it in his hot little hand all the way to cardio. It was a bridal magazine.