In Which Connor Goes To The Cardiologist

Connor had his four year cardiology appointment this morning.  He has an extremely rare heart defect called Left Ventricular Noncompaction Syndrome, and so he has appointments every six months to check and see how things look in there.  We also usually go in before trips where we'll be out of state for over a week, or before major medical procedures.  So we drove down to the on-post hospital to see how he's doing.

The doctor always does a cardiac ECHO on his heart to check the function.  Connor thinks the sonogram wand tickles, so he grinned and giggled through the whole thing.  Then we went upstairs and got an EKG done, which the little guy was very calm and patient through.  He's had this sort of thing done so many times that as long as you aren't rubbing alcohol pads on him or tying a rubber tourniquet somewhere (he knows what both of those mean) he won't get upset at all.

Things look great!  Connor's heart is functioning at a normal level and his doctor said he looks very stable.  Those are always great words to hear.  Unfortunately we also found out that our doctor (who is fantastic) is retiring very soon.  So by the time Connor needs to come in again, he'll have a new doctor. 

This is a problem we're starting to run into with Connor's doctors and specialists.  The doctors in the army, just like nearly everyone else in the service, are moved from post to post every few years.  Most of the time this isn't a problem because their patients are also moving from place to place.  However, because Connor has so many medical issues, we are pretty much settled since there are so few posts that have all the specialists and resources he needs.  We've been in the Pacific Northwest long enough now that Connor's doctors are moving on.

Our cardiologist wasn't really excited about the idea of us being assigned to a doctor he didn't know since Connor is such an unusual case.  So he is referring us to a civilian doctor he knows well and trusts who works at a local clinic.  This has already happened with a couple of Connor's other specialists.  Very slowly our care is transitioning to the surrounding community rather than the military. 

This poses some interesting logistical problems.  For example; the pharmacy at the military hospital dispenses Connor's medications at no cost to us.  However, the prescriptions for these medications must be written out by a doctor who works at the military hospital.  So if Connor's neurologist (who is in a civilian hospital) prescribes us a medication and I don't want to pay for it out of pocket, I have to have Connor's pediatrician (who is at the military hospital) represcribe it.  Orders for some other referrals and equipment have to be done the same way.  What this means is that while we can go to the civilian hospitals for specialists, our primary care manager must always be at the military hospital. 

So it's a little more work for me, but the continuity of care is totally worth it.  And I'm so glad Connor is doing well!

~Jess