Lilly's Echocardiogram

Pretty much what I could see on the screen of Lilly's ultrasound. All four heart chambers.
The colour is the blood flowing through the heart.

An echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart essentially. It uses standard ultrasound techniques to image two-dimensional slices of the heart.

We took Lilly today to KGH for her echocardiogram. It was a simple process, at least to us. Our cardiac sonographer (Katherine) - A very nice woman, attached stickers with nipple like things to Lilly's chest and side and then attached wires to them to monitor her heart activity. Then she used the ultrasound machine to take pictures of Lilly's heart. It was quite interesting to see on the screen. There were points where you could see all four heart chambers, and her heart pattern was being shown at the bottom of the screen. It was almost like a pregnancy ultrasound except instead of seeing a baby move it was a heart pumping.

Lilly was fantastic and patient. She laid on the table so still and watched little bear on the television the whole time. The process took about 1/2 an hour which normally is a long time for a 3 and a half year old to lay so still. The process started out on her back, then she moved on her left side and then she laid with her head back so that Katherine could take pictures of her heart through her throat area. Katherine said this showed the view from the aortic valve. Katherine also kept telling Lilly how good she was and hoped Lilly would stay and show all the adults how great she was so they could take some pointers!

Now we wait. The cardiologist will have to examine the pictures from the ultrasound (which usually takes about a week and a half). I have booked an appointment with our family doctor for two weeks from now to get the results. I will have Abigail at that appointment also so that she can be seen about her ears and get her needle that is due.