a clean bill of health

Some of you may know that when Andrew was about five months old, he was diagnosed with a mild case of pulmonic stenosis (a narrowing of the pulmonic valve that creates a murmur in the heart. I think). Anyway, after getting an echocardiogram at the local hospital (one that had to be completed over two consecutive visits, since the first time took too long and Andrew was absolutely undone), we were sent to Hershey medical center, where they looked him over, pronounced it a mild case, and recommended that we take him in for yearly updates to make sure his heart condition wasn't getting worse. So, last year we took him up to Primary Children's hospital (where they have the nearest pediatric cardiology unit). And we took him up again today.

Andrew was actually surprisingly good. He held still for the echocardiogram (it helped that the TV was on cartoons above the technician's head). And he was mostly good in the doctor's office, although, at the end of a two hour visit he was understandably restless. Both the doctor and the intern let him borrow their stethescopes to listen to his heart (or his belly, since that was where he pointed the end). He thought he was hot stuff.

At the end of it all, the doctor told us the good news: she couldn't hear any murmur in his heart, and the echocardiogram was clear. Apparently, Andrew has outgrown the condition, and no longer needs to go in for his visits. This was, of course, good news for us. But I can't help feeling a little bit guilty at all my good luck (knock on wood!): if we were given a clean bill of health, there were only too obviously other children at the hospital this morning who desperately need the medical care they are getting.