“Very Innocent”

Posted by Mandy on April 2nd, 2008 filed in Jack Doings

Apparently, if Jack’s heart murmur had a face, that is the look it would have right now.

His EKG and his x-ray were both fine, and while yes, there was a heart murmur of some sort, our pediatric cardiologist said that heart murmurs are present in something like 80% of the kiddie population, and that unless something changes in a follow-up appointment in 8 months or so, it’s nothing to worry about.

On a different note, I wrote a post a while back about hospital procedures for babies. I am reminded of this post because Ben and I have been through enough of these sorts of tests that, when the nurse came in and said, “I need one parent to come along for the EKG and x-ray,” I turned to Ben and said “I guess it’s my turn.”

You see, when Jack had to be strapped down on a table for his catheterization when he was 6 months old, I felt my resolve crumple up and flitter away like tin foil that’s been folded too often once I saw Jack stretched out on a board, his legs strapped down, his arms lifted up next to his head and then all together bound down by a leather harness covered in soft foam. I bolted at that point, and cried in the waiting room until it was over.

But today, yeah, I owed Ben one. EKG was no sweat. X-ray… well, it’s a wooden platform with a hole cut into the center and a little bicycle seat thingy in the middle. Attached to it is a plastic cylinder, split in half, with a hole for the kids face and slight curves around shoulder height. What are these slight curves for you ask? Why, to hold his arms up above his head for the chest x-ray, of course, while the cylinder is closed around him and tightened up to a point where he can’t move! Awesome, you say? Indeed. It sure didn’t look as happy as this picture. In fact, it looked like this, except with hysterical screaming, clenching fingers, and wildly waving feet under the table.