Queen of Hearts

Back in November of last year, I got a call from Emily's daycare telling me that Emily was turning blue and purple.  I rushed to pick her up and the episode had passed.  Four or five daycare workers all witnessed her turn a shade of purple, first starting with her arms and then her legs ending up with splotches on her face.  She wasn't lethargic and was playing normally at the time of her sudden color change.  I asked if she had eaten anything out of the ordinary or if she was acting strange but nothing was out of routine for her that day.  I took her to her doctor who really couldn't diagnose her with anything because she hadn't witnessed the episode and there weren't any other symptoms.  The only conclusion she found was afer listening to Emily's heart was that she had an irregular heartbeat.  Emily's pediatrician referred us to a cardiologist to find out what was causing her heart to beat irregularly.  Keep in mind that at the time of this appointment Emily was fast asleep and the room was quiet when the pediatrician listened to her heart.

After the New Year came, our first mission was to find out what was causing Emily's color changing episodes.  So Brian and I take Emily to the cardiologist only to experience the most horrific doctor's appointment one could ever experience with a child. Okay, I may be exagerating but it was pretty bad.  On her normal checkups Emily hates to be touched, poked or proded.  As soon as the nurse or doctor walks in the room she starts to cry.  Talk about White Coat Syndrome, Emily has a major case of WCS. 

As soon as we walked into the room with the sonogram machine she knew something was up.  The nurse told me if I had to I could lay next to Emily while she took a sonogram of her heart.  I knew then it was going to be bad.  We took off her shirt and laid her down and from that moment on she cried like I had not seen her cry before.  She wailed and flailed her arms and legs about and nothing would calm her down.  We got through most of the sonogram but she still needed to take an EKG.  That was not going to happen.  Emily was so distraugt we couldn't get the leads on the stickers that were placed on her chest.  I tried rocking her to sleep but every time I would face her forward she would wake up and cry.  After 15 to 20 minutes of this action we finally gave up and told the nurse the appointment was over.  There was just no way Emily was going to cooperate.  The doctor took a look at the sonogram and told us that Emily's heart was developed normally and from what she could see there were no abnormalities or deformaties.  Of course she couldn't give us a 100% diagnosis or thumbs up because she didn't have an EKG or vitals to check.  Either way, Brian and I believe Emily is fine and we are just going to watch her closely for another episode and maybe if she gets over her WCS we will take her back to finish the testing, but not anytime soon, that's for sure.

Aside from hating doctor's, she also isn't too sure about slides and rides at the playground.  She is becoming more and more like her father everyday.  It is too scary!