Matters of the Heart

I love my son's heart.  It is full of compassion and kindness.  It is open and teachable.  It is quick to soften and slow to offend.  It is appropriately protected.  It doesn't go wandering.  Emotionally healthy, spiritually healthy, and, I'm happy to say, physically healthy.

We had a little while to wonder about that last part, after getting a unexpected referral to a cardiologist.  It started off as an simple appointment to have a couple warts frozen off.  While we were there, his left arm turned purple and mottled.  This has been happening sporadically for the last six months or so, and we've thought nothing of it.  It looks like he's ice cold, but he's not.  It doesn't cause him any pain, it doesn't tingle.  Just purple-ish.  I wouldn't have even thought to bring it up if the doctor hadn't noticed it.  And it's funny...because if this had happened when this big kid was a little kid, like a toddler, I probably would have been at the E.R. with him, insisting they find the cause.  But as he's grown, so has my relaxed approach to this type of thing.  I guess since it didn't bother him at all, I decided it didn't need to bother me.  But the doctor was a bit concerned about that in combination with our family's heart history.  She just thought it was a good time to have him screened and make sure this had no kind of heart connection.

I was totally fine with that.  The first evening I was a bit nervous, because it's not everyday you go in to have warts frozen and leave with a referral to a cardiologist!  And I know he's a man-sized kid, but this is still my baby.  Then I was fine with it all, and then I woke up the day of the appointment with a belly full of nerves.  My mind wasn't worried, my instinct was that everything was fine, but my body reacted with a great force of nerves.  I'll leave it at that.

But, of course, all is just fine.  His heart is in perfect health, and there is not the slightest sign of any kind of structural abnormality.  And it ended up being such a neat experience.  Alex is thinking about pursuing some kind of career in the medical field, and these matters are quite intriguing to him.  So when they started the echocardiogram, they offered to put in a movie for him to watch to pass the time.  (Granted this is a pediatric cardiologist, so their offerings were pretty "lame".)  Instead, he asked if he could just watch the test.  So the gal was great with him...taught him all about his heart as she did the exam.  The more she talked, the more I relaxed...knowing that if she had seen anything concerning she probably wouldn't be so chatty.  He learned a lot about his heart that morning.  I was going to take a picture of him getting that test, but he would probably rather give up food for a meal than have me take that picture.  And you know how huge that is.

I couldn't resist getting just one picture...

It's a great thing to hear a cardiologist tell you that your son has a completely normal heart.  Does my heart good.

And the comings and goings of purple-ish-ness?  There are a couple possibilities, neither being a big deal.  We probably won't even pursue it any further.  Just maybe nothing more than a crazy quirk.

Nothing quite like a bit of concern thrown your way to make you stop and appreciate the goodness of a good heart.  In every way.