So much to be thankful for!

  Before school was out, Emersen and Parker were in to the Doc for having temps for a few days.  He told us he couldn't find a reason for the temps, but on E's exam he heard a pretty kickin heart murmur.  Uh, WHAT?  I was freaking out.  I know some people have murmurs and it's no biggie, but I didn't know why she had one all of a sudden and never mentioned before.  He said we needed to wait until she was feeling better and see if it was still audible.  Well, we ended up back at the office with a double ear infection a week later--still murmur.  Her 18 mo check was three weeks later--still murmur, and she wasn't sick anymore.  The doctor sent us to get an EKG and a chest x-ray done and referred us to see a pediatric cardiologist.  We got the tests done right away, but the wait for a specialist is always forever.  We were scheduled for August.  Weeeellll, then she gets sick again (see previous posts) and her murmur is soooo loud it is scaring the crap out of Stu and I.  We called and asked if there was a different office we could get into sooner.  Luck! 
  Yesterday was the big day.  We got right in and the spunky nurse that greeted us was actually the doctors wife.  They were very nice and calmed our nerves quickly.  The doctor looked over the tests and labs she had previously done, took concerns of ours, and asked lots of questions.  He listened to little Emmy's chest for a long time then did an echocardiogram in the room.  She was such a trooper through the whole thing (and loved every second of the sucker treat).  So the bottom line...in about 15% of his patients, extra muscle is attached like a guitar string (chordae).  This is a functional murmur because the heart function is normal, it just makes extra murmur noise.  The noise is louder when her heart beats faster, as in fever, more motion, or heat.  He watched a spot on the echo test for a possible pinhole, but wasn't worried about it because it's not something they would even fix.  He wants to see her back in a year for a check up, but said she looks great!  WOOOHOOO!  That was such a relief!  We have so much to be thankful for!