Cardiologist Appointment with Primary Children's Dr.

Yesterday was our big appointment with Dr. Judd - a Primary Children's pediatric cardiologist. She does an outreach clinic here in Ogden and the cardiologist here in Ogden was able to get us an appointment with her. As the day approached, I got more nervous. By looking at Cambrie, you wouldn't suspect she had any heart issues so I wasn't sure what we were expecting to hear; however, we were expecting a good visit in March with the cardiologist here and we all remember how that turned into a nightmare! Anyhow, my emotions were running high leading up to the appointment!

We took Alyssa with us to the appointment and our neighbor watched the boys (thanks, Emily!) We wanted the doctor to listen to Alyssa as well and educate us on her "Left Axis Deviation" flagged on her March EKG.

They did another EKG on Cambrie before we saw the doctor. When the doctor came in, she told us she had spent time reviewing every EKG done on Cambrie. She told us based on some previous EKG's - particularly the ones in March, we were good to be cautious. She was worried about things she saw on some of them as well so was glad our doctor got us in to see her. We discussed our family histories and talked a little bit about Friedreich's Ataxia. She assured us that heart issues related to FA would not show up in a baby - they don't usually develop until the teenage years if a person had FA. I kind of already knew that; but when our doctor was concerned in March I just panicked so it was good to have this doctor calm our nerves.

The great news is that Cambrie's EKG was normal yesterday! The doctor listened to her and evaluated her and told us she looks great. She said she gains weight well - and was obviously active - and her heart sounded great. She couldn't hear a murmur so she said the VSD has probably closed (which our doctor also indicated in March). She recommended we just take Cambrie back when she is 5 for a follow up and see if the ASD is closed then. She said her ASD is obviously smaller that what it started out at so she suspects things will be just fine with Cambrie. We are elated!

The doctor answered all of my questions and really put me at ease. She assured me there was nothing I did to cause Cambrie's heart defects. She said diet, medicine's, etc. could not cause it. She said even with identical twins, sometimes one baby will have a hole and the other will not. She said that proves it wasn't something the mother did or ate.

Dr. Judd also reviewed all of our EKG's done in March and she educated us a little bit on Left Axis Deviation. She told us that if there was a true Left Axis Deviation, there would be other things present on the EKG's and other symptoms indicating the condition and those things were not present with Gavin and Alyssa's EKG's. She did say that sometimes the EKG machines don't calculate things correctly. She pointed out some things on Alyssa's EKG indicating why she wasn't too concerned. She also listened to Alyssa's heart and checked her pulses in various places. She was great with the kids! She thanked Alyssa for letting her listen to her heart and told her she has a great heart and she should go home and play outside on this beautiful day! Dr. Judd recommended Alyssa and Gavin have another EKG done in a year; she said she expects the EKG's to be normal then.

We are so happy about the news we received and thankful for the health of our beautiful kids! Thank you everyone for your prayers for our family - especially for little Cambrie.