Cardio check

I took Elijah to his cardiology check-up today. He was nothing but cute for three-quarters of the appointment (don't ask about the other quarter of the appointment). When he was getting his echo, he said about a hundred times to the ultrasound tech, "Where's Dr. Moga??" Finally she said, "You want to see Dr. Moga, huh? Let me find him!" She made every effort to find him, but he must have been in surgery because he never showed up. She went to his office, sent him an email, sent a page... That's ok, E was pretty excited about seeing Dr. Gremmels.

We got nothing but good news. We are dropping all medication (woooo!), we don't have to go back for 4 months (woooo!) and E's next heart cath won't take place until next spring (woooo!). In addition to that, his heart function, based on the echo, looked great. His new valve looks much "happier," but his pulmonary arteries are still small. They will always be small, which is the reason why heart caths will unfortunately always be a part of his life.

I showed Dr. G Elijah's bald spot and asked for his thoughts. He thought it looked like ringworm (hmmmm), and thought that because he has so much hair (he had to dig and dig to find it) we just have not seen it until now. Hmmmm....who knows.

I have been wanting so badly to leave a voicemail message for Elijah's pulmonologist ever since surgery. He devised a "plan" for Elijah that would reduce the risk of him having croup post-extubation. This happens to be a doctor that Dan and I (and Elijah) LOVE. Honestly, he is one of the most amazing, caring individuals we have ever known. He has gone above and beyond his call of duty with our boy. His PLAN kept our boy from experiencing croup post-extubation...after open heart surgery! This is something that we didn't think was possible.

But it happened. Our Dr. K pulled through and drew up a plan that basically saved our little boy. I have felt emotional about him since surgery, and just incredibly grateful. I constantly wish I could give him a giant heartfelt squeeze. He didn't have to help us in this way, but he did.

I happen to know one of his nurses, through a sister of a friend of a friend. She gave me his pager number and I knew it was finally time to leave him a message. I thought it would be ok, but it was a bit difficult for me still. "Hi, Dr. Kurachek. This is...Meeeeeggggaaan Poooo------rrrrtaaaa calling. Uhhhhmmm.....Iiiiii am calling to just.....you know, thank you, for, you know, being so....aaaaaa-----wesome, and for caaaaaaaring so much for our son and for....sniff sniff.........devising such an ammmmaaaazzing...wah wah wah....plan for him..." It went on and on and it was a bit embarrassing. I hung up regretful, thinking he would think I was crazy.

Two days later, on my way to the dropzone with my boys, my phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Mrs. Porta?"
"Uhhh, yes?"
"Hi, this is Dr. Kurachek!"
"Ohhhh. Hi, Dr. Kuracheck!"
He told me that he was grateful for my heartfelt message, but mostly he was calling to make sure I was ok. :) It was a good conversation. He counseled me through some feelings (he is an intensivist, as well as being a pulmonologist, so he sees it all). It was nice to chat with him.
I told him at the end, "Dr. K, we love you and Dr. Gremmels and Dr. Judy and Dr. Moga! Not only are you amazing doctors, you are all amazing human beings." He said, "Wow! Can I put that on my resume? That's the nicest thing that's ever been said about me!"

It's true. Elijah has been blessed in so many ways...one of them being that he has THE BEST doctors looking out for him.

I will sleep peacefully tonight. More about that later....it has been a peaceful, healing week.