Katie goes for a routine Echocardiogram

This afternoon, I took Katie to UMass for a routine Echocardiogram. Some of the chemo that she received can effect her heart. So, they will be doing an echocardiogram every year for about the next 10 years. She had a baseline ECHO done a year ago, but she had forgotten what they did, so she was very scared to go for this appointment. She also didn't believe that it wasn't going to hurt her.  Poor thing was crying on the ride to the appointment because she was so scared.  I kept trying to tell her that it really wasn't a big deal, but she just wasn't hearing me.

When I put her up on the exam table, she started screaming. But, I just talked to her until she finally calmed down and listened to me.  Eventually, she laid down and let the tech do the ECHO while she watched a Sesame Street video.

The ECHO lasted about 15 minutes and then we waited in the room for the doctor to come in and look over the pictures.  I was nervous to hear the results of the test, but he said that everything looked normal. I had to ask if her heart was "normal" or "normal for a kid post cancer treatment" and he said "normal", so I was very happy to hear that.

Then, we were on our way home again.

Katie's next clinic appointment is Wednesday, January 04, 2012.