"Fantastic Staff Led to Quick Heart Condition Diagnosis"

My daughter was admitted to Wishaw Ward 20 at 4 weeks old. She had bronchiolitis and was refusing to feed, required an NG tube to support her as she returned to breastfeeding.

During the consultant ward rounds, Dr Herbert visited my daughter. I noticed that he took quite a thorough check of my daughter's chest, front and back. At the time I thought nothing of it as she had bronchiolitis, so I suspected he was listening to the crackles in her chest. He then asked me if I was aware that my daughter had a heart murmur. This was something we were unaware of. He did a fantastic job to sensitively explain what a murmur was, what it meant, and explained in enough detail what it could potentially be and what we would do going forward. He reassured me that it did not sound like it needed seeing urgently but would refer her to the cardiologist and if the murmur was still there she would get further investigation. 

We had my daughter's cardiology appointment, and were seen by Dr Greenhaulgh, who was also fantastic. The appointment was running late which Dr Greenhaulgh was very apologetic about - we understand how much pressure there is on our health professionals and we were just thankful to have our daughter seen - he absolutely had nothing to apologise for. He chatted to us a little about my daughter's symptoms, which thankfully she is asymptomatic, and asked how her recovery from the bronchiolitis had been and he had a listen into her chest. He told us that the murmur was still there, and explained the next step of doing an echocardiogram. He explained the process and what it would do. I was able to see on the screen, I had absolutely no clue what any of it means, but Dr Greenhaulgh (after an in-depth look) showed us what certain things were, how the heart works and then proceeded to explain the issue with my daughter's heart. 

She was diagnosed with mild pulmonary stenosis - I was expecting something to be found as I'd requested my daughter's admission notes to give myself a bit of time to prepare and get onto the same page as best as I could. I was aware that Dr Herbert had heard an ejection click which he suspected was most likely pathological. I had explored the multiple potential conditions that he had written on my daughter's notes to prepare myself for whatever outcome. Hoping for an innocent murmur, but preparing myself for a diagnosis. His chance discovery and subsequent referral meant my daughter was quickly seen by the paediatric cardiology team and was given a speedy diagnosis on the day of the appointment. 

I am relieved to know that my daughter's condition is mild, and that she will be under review to ensure her condition stays stable or (fingers crossed) improves but both Dr Herbert and Dr Greenhaulgh were fantastic with my daughter, talking to her and with playful tones, working with her despite her wriggling about quite the thing. 

My daughter is 12 weeks old as of cardiology appointment day and both doctors obviously cared about their job, their patients and communicated their findings well so that I could understand what was going on. 

I feel reassured to have a great consultant looking after my daughter, and we can hope her condition improves or remains the same.

Thanks to swift discovery, referral and diagnosis I am reassured that my daughter will have a normal life. Thank you Dr Herbert and Dr Greenhaulgh!