PEDIATRIC CARDIOLOGIST

At Ethan's 4 year checkup, Dr. Susie Damon (who has been his Dr. since we moved to Castle Rock when he was about 9 months old) heard a little heart murmer that she's never heard before. She didn't think it sounded like anything to be too concerned about, but just to be safe, she referred us to a Pediatric Cardiologist at the Children's Hospital. When we got to his appointment, they ran a bunch of tests on Ethan. They started by taking his blood pressure, doing all the normal checks (height, weight) and then they did an EKG (top pic), followed by an echocardiogram (next two pics)...and of course a Dr.'s check up. He was a perfect patient - Scot and I couldn't believe how brave he was because it would've been a little overwhelming for anyone. Ethan did have his special monkey there with him for extra support. The end result is that Ethan has a bicuspid aortic valve in his left ventrical which he's had since birth. Instead of the valve having 3 leaflets, it has 2. Dr. Pietra said 1-2% of the population has this condition...and that only includes those people who have been officially diagnosed. He said that many people never know they have this condition, and that often the only way it's found is during autopsy at old age.What does this mean for us? Ethan will have to go back for yearly exams to make sure the sound of the murmer hasn't increased, but at this point, the Dr. said the murmer may not have been detected for quite a while because the sound of it was rather faint. He guessed that it was probably only detected this time because Ethan may have been more active just prior to Dr. Susie's exam. As it stands currently, he doesn't require medication (and if he did, it would only be necessary prior to dental visits), and he can participate in any and all cardiovascular sports without any worries. The only thing they told us to avoid is heavy weight lifting, which as a 4 year old, is going to be difficult to avoid. ( ; I learned many new things at this visit, one of which is that Arnold Schwartznager has this same heart valve and just recently had the heart surgery to replace it - AND he was a body builder by profession. Crazy, right? Scot and I talked with the Dr. about what this would mean for Ethan in the future - he said that we'll have to watch it year by year and see how the murmer sounds. It may or may not ever be an issue for him. As far as valve replacement, he said Ethan may need to have that procedure done later in life, but at this point, they do not make valves that can grow with children...so these surgeries are only performed on adults. Dr. Pietra said that if anything, this was a better outcome than a lot of other possibilities - which I suppose is true. I have a feeling that Ethan is going to grow up to be just fine. Nothing changes the fact that Ethan is just as perfect as ever to us. We love you Ethan!

On a much lighter note, Ethan's TaeKwon Do class was really fun to watch tonight. They did the padded sword competition. Ethan was the youngest kid there tonight and was therefore paired with a little boy that is a few years older than he is, who hit much harder. (Ethan has the red sword).

After class was over and we were in the car heading home, Ethan said "Those black swords hit really hard." Have I mentioned that I love that kid?