The Four Mossketeers: Abbie's Cardiology Appointment

We only have to take Abbie to cardiology appointments once a year now, so that's really nice. Because we don't go very often, Abbie gets a little nervous since she's not familiar with the people or the procedures. This time around, we tried to prep her with everything that would happen so she wouldn't be too scared. Usually she has to get an echocardiogram (like an unltrasound on your heart) and in the past, she's had to be sedated for those echos since nobody expects a baby or a little toddler to stay still for 45 minutes while some strange person pokes and prods at them. Anyway, this year our cardiologist decided against the echo because he didn't want to sedate Abbie. This was somewhat of a relief for us because Abbie has to get an IV to be sedated and that is just not fun for any of us. Dr. Puchalski thinks that by next year, Abbie will be old enough that she won't have to be sedated, so we'll resume the yearly echos next year. We did have to get an EKG, which was a new experience for us. They put a whole bunch of little sticker things all over your chest, and then they hook wires to each of those stickers. Abbie did SOOO good! This was by far the best she has ever been at the doctor. She shed a few little tears here and there, but she was so good at holding still and staying quiet while Dr. Puchalski listened to her heart. Nothing new to report about the condition of Abbie's heart. There was some leakage of one valve and some narrowing of another valve, but that's pretty much the same as before. Her pacemaker is still working great and has another 6 years of battery life left, so she won't have to get that replaced until she's 8 or 9. We feel so blessed that our little girl is healthy and active and we're so thankful for the great doctors and nurses at Primary Children's.