Paranoid Parent

This is just a quick update (well, when I write, I have a tendency to be long winded, so we'll see how "quick" it really is) on Enzo's heart.  His next cardiology appointment was scheduled to be on July 1st.  However, being the paranoid parent that I am, I was a little worried about him.  He has had one cold after another, and it seemed to me like he had been sick for months on end.  And everytime he got sick, the cough would get into his lungs and he'd get Bronchiolitis.  He was on his 3rd or 4th round of this lung infection in 6 months.  Seeing as how my child has only one vein going from his heart to his right lung, and the doctors warned us to be careful of any infections, I started to get a little worried about his heart.  After taking him to the pediatrician for the millionth time (we've been there so much, almost all of them can say Enzo's full name correctly (which is a big accomplishment) and they even noticed when I got a haircut), I decided to call his cardiologist and see what they thought about it.  I told them about all his crazy lung infections, as well as the new symptom of sweating on his head for no reason.  I didn't hear back for a couple of days, but when I did, it went like this: "Hi, this is cardiology calling from Primary's - we have  an appointment for you tomorrow morning at 7 am." So either they were humoring this paranoid parent, or his symptoms were a little concerning to his doctor as well. 

So we take him up to Primary's the next morning for his sedated echo, only to find out that they have a policy of not doing sedation on anyone who has been diagnosed with Bronchiolitis within the last 6 weeks.  (I guess we forgot to tell them about the 1st diagnosis he had a couple of weeks before he got his heart cath done.  Oops) This was slightly frustrating, since the Bronchiolitis was the reason we were concerned and wanted to see the cardiologist in the first place.  So they did a limited echo on him while he was awake instead.  Thanks to Baby Einstein, suckers, and the cup of milk he was then able to drink, Enzo held relatively still for his Echo.  He was a much happier baby once he was able to eat.  (We didn't get a lot of pictures - but you can kind of see his grumpy face playing in the car in the waiting room.)

Fortunately, he held still enough for them to get some OK pictures of his heart.  Diagnosis: I am just paranoid.  His cardiologist, Dr. Mack, said his heart functions look pretty good and from the images they were able to get, everything looks fine.  He thought that, if Enzo has had Bronchiolitis that often, perhaps he might have asthma.  He suggested we try him on an inhaled steroid for a while and see how he did - and then maybe come back again for a sedated echo after he'd been on the steroids for 6 weeks.  He called our pediatrician, Dr. Lei, who called me later that day.  Dr. Lei said that he didn't really think that Enzo has asthma, but that he had just gotten one virus after another all winter long.  He didn't feel comfortable prescribing the steroid, which Enzo would have to inhale through a nebulizer twice a day, every day, for 6 weeks.  He instead prescribed Singulair, a chewable asthma medication.  I was more comfortable with that as well.  So, good news is, Enzo's heart is doing fine.  Enzo was symptom free for a week or so after his appointment, and has since gotten ANOTHER virus with a gunky nose and a nasty cough.  It sounds to me like it's gone into his lungs again, but the bad parent in me isn't taking him in to the doctor - since they'll just call it Bronchiolitis again - which will keep him from being able to get the sedated echo, to get the best pictures of his heart to make sure everything is REALLY ok (that's the skeptical, paranoid parent talking again.)