Freaked

Out.

I know, in the big picture, this probably isn't a huge deal, but . . .
I took Emma to the doctor today because her throat has been hurting off and on and then her ear started hurting. He was examining her and he took a long time listening to her chest and back. Then he had her hold her breath and he listened some more. Then he said something like "did we know she had a heart murmur?" Well, no, as a matter of fact, we did not know that. He went on to draw us a little picture of the type of heart murmur he thought he was hearing. He explained that sometimes this is caused by some muscle in the middle of the heart being swollen (or something) and sometimes when a person exercises or does sports it swells so much it blocks the blood from coming through at all and they DIE IMMEDIATELY. He said that. He really did. He didn't say that was what Emma has for sure, but he said no sports or vigorous activity until she can have an EsomethingG and she has to go to a pediatric cardiologist because she is under 16 and they can't see her til Sept. 24. TWO MONTHS. I held it together amazingly well. She had to have a strep test too, and she is the worst for having anything put in her throat. It was all just traumatic. When I told my mom, and Everett, I fell apart a little bit. And everyone is very reassuring . . .lots of people have heart murmurs and are fine. I know that's true. But he said people die immediately. I know there are lots of other health issues people face with their children every day that are more traumatic and life altering than this. But this is the biggest we've dealt with about our kids. And it feels pretty big right at the moment. Emma is being a trooper but she's sad about tennis. She was looking forward to playing in high school. And her throat and ear are still really bothering her, although they said it isn't strep (I won't be surprised if they call tomorrow and say it is, after the culture has done it's thing for 24 hours). Thanks for listening.