has it really been 6 months?

Indeed it has. Joshua had his 6 month cardiology check up today which included an EKG, echo, and pacemaker check. Typically several days before each visit to the cardiologist I become anxious & my mind wanders...what if this? what if that? This time I had absolutely no anxiety. In fact was convinced that the left side of his heart had miraculously grown, because truly, he seems so healthy. No, he's still functioning on only a right ventricle, but one can dream, right? But let me clarify for those of you who aren't familiar with Joshua's condition, his left heart will never develop.

As you may remember before his last appointment, I was looking for tips to help him through the echo, as I knew it would be hard for him to lay still for an hour with a stranger rubbing a wand across his chest. At Kaiser they really do a good job catering to small children when it comes to echo's and such. The room where he has his echo is equipped with a huge projector that casts bright images across the dark ceiling, and they also have a DVD player so the kids can watch movies. Although Josh never watches movies or the TV at all, about a week before today's appointment I pulled out a DVD my mom had bought him a while back. I was crossing my fingers in hopes that he'd like the movie, knowing that if he did I could use it as a distraction during his echo. It was a construction video & not only are there tractors, but also explosions & demolition. He became obsessed with it immediately. So for the past several days I've been showing him this DVD just hoping that his familiarity with it would be the key to a pleasant echo. It worked! He was not happy to be there, but he did awesome, he laid there watching his movie & on occasion he'd look at the echo-tech and say to her "look" during the best parts. Of course a couple of times he'd say in a sad voice 'momma' (as in - "come on mom....do we really have to do this?").

Overall it was a really good experience with a positive outcome on all accounts. Josh did well through the echo & pacer check, his heart function is good, his tricuspid leak is minimal, he isn't using his pacemaker & Dr. Rivera was really pleased with everything he saw.

A quick story...when Dr. Rivera walked into the room for the first time today he held out his fist to Josh & Josh returned the knuckle tap. We went through the usual check up & as Dr. Rivera was leaving, Josh looked up at him & said "Doctor..." holding his little fist up, then the two exchanged another knuckle tap & Josh said "Bye bye!" Josh is apparently 1 going on 16.

Anyway, thanks for checking in on our little guy! We feel so blessed to be his parents. And so blessed that he has done so well after 2 very difficult surgeries/recoveries. I can't understand why we are so blessed & though the future is uncertain we truly cherish this precious time that he is thriving.