Sophie's Echo

Getting ready to head
to Winchester

Richard and I got up bright and early this morning to take Sophie in for her echocardiogram.  We were supposed to report to the Heart and Vascular Center at Winchester Medical at 7:30am for registration.  Her appointment was for 8:00.  Sophie was great getting up early and didn’t even wake up her sister!  Small victories, man!  Haha!

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect and was so full of nervous energy last night, I had a hard time falling asleep.  Though I knew it wasn’t going to be a “big deal” in the grander scope of things that are definitely a big deal… this still felt like a big deal to me.  I mean, all parents want their child to be the perfect picture of health, so it’s easy for a mole hill to feel like a mountain. 

Richard got a picture of the screen
 (the color shows the direction
of the blood flow) 

As the technician walked us back to the exam room, she explained that what Sophie was about to experience was basically an ultrasound of her chest.  I’m very, very familiar with ultrasounds since I’ve had quite a few in recent history, haha.  The trick was that we had to keep her very calm and as still as possible.  Sophie did great, all things considered.  We had to take a short break twice so that I could calm her down.  Otherwise, she took it like a champ. 

The tech focused on getting the pictures (over 50) and recordings that she needed, so she didn’t really get to explain to us what we were looking at.  Of course, she’s a tech, so she’s not really allowed/able to tell us much anyway.  What she did say…  “Try not to lose any sleep worrying” and that all of the bits and pieces of her heart were present and accounted for.  I’m assuming that’s a good thing, but it really wasn’t something I was worried about.  While I do take some comfort in knowing that we aren’t missing something, that hadn’t really crossed my mind.  I don’t feel like I know any more now than I did at 7:30 this morning. 

After we got home,
"So what the hell was that about, Mom?"

She also mentioned that the Pediatric Cardiologist at UVA would probably review Sophie’s images today.  We should hear something in the next couple of days.