Floating Hearts O' Gratitude

Today we saw Andi's hunky cardiologist.  Sorry, but he is easy on the eyes!  Complex kids Mom's feel me on this right?!  It had been two years since we checked her repaired heart.  Again, Andi had a Complete AV Canal.  She introduced herself with gusto and they were instantly smitten.  The entire staff started calling her "Princess Andi!"  She breezed through the EKG and then the Echo, and then we reviewed the findings with her cardiologist.  He said, "...last time, I deemed it mild-to-moderate leak on the one valve, but given today's findings I question why I even said that.  It'd definitely just a mild leak and I couldn't be more thrilled."  The other valve is a minimal leak.  When she lays down, he can hear a slight murmur, but when she stands and clenches her fists, he can't hear it at all.

Basically, her heart is as good as he could hope for.  The more activity she wants to do, the better.  He said, 'see you again in two years!'  Then he said Andi wins the prize for cutest glasses and coolest shoes.  So she promptly asked, something along the lines of 'what do I get?!' like all good princesses should.  He said he didn't have any prizes, but two thumbs up.  She wasn't sold.  In fact, I think she felt ... undervalued.  So she asked, 'do you have any stickers?' to which he gleamed, 'why, yes, we do have stickers!'  Then he asked if she liked granola bars.  'Yes!'  So, Dr. Hunky-pants retrieved the granola bar out of his own lunch as a reward for Princess Andi.  Food and stickers win.

So, we have floating hearts of gratitude above our heads today.  Grateful for the stability of her repaired heart. We got really, really lucky and there are moments throughout the year where I just pause and think about Dr. Langley and his incredible team that repaired her complex heart defect.  Sending floating hearts of gratitude and respect to them as well.