Feeling Anxious - Collateral Vessel

[Sophrosyne1]

Hi all,

I know that I'm probably being over-anxious but when my now 17 week old DD was born we volunteered for a study measuring oxygen levels in the blood. Her levels weren't as high as expected and, to cut a long story short, she had to stay in hospital for a week with what was a suspected chest infection and fluid on her lungs. During the time she was in hospital she had to have 2 heart scans which seemed normal, we were then given a follow up appointment at the cardiac clinic for when she was 6 weeks.

At the appointment we were told that she had what appeared to be an innocent heart murmur as her heart seemed fine but we would receive a letter after a consultant had checked the scan. This week however, I received a letter saying that while my daughter's heart is fine, there may be a collateral vessel coming off one of the arteries and we have been referred to the Birmingham children's hospital.

I spoke to the Dr on the phone and he seemed to think that it wasn't anything to worry about but it needs to be checked out. The problem is that I am a naturally anxious person and am worrying non-stop about all kinds of imaginary scenarios.

I am worried about the fact that the hospital has been slammed in the news recently, I am worried my DD will stop breathing in the night, I am not sleeping well because I feel on edge. Last night the baby let out a little scream in her sleep and I jumped up so quickly I nearly hit the ceiling. All this, and we don't even have an appointment date yet.

I know that if there was something seriously wrong that the hospital wouldn't have waited for over 10 weeks to get in touch but the heart is such a vital organ that any worry about it seems huge. I guess I just need a little reassurance.

Although I don't have any much experience in paediatric cardiology, I have worked with some of the cardiologists and particularly the cardiac surgeons who work at BCH and looked after the grown up congenital heart patients (not saying she will need to see a surgeon btw!) , and I can say in all honesty, you are in really good hands.
The fact that they have stated that her heart is fine and the blood flow around her heart looked normal on the scans is good. It's better to have it checked by a paediatric cardiologist who has more experience and therefore more likely to have seen this kind of thing before. Chances are it'll be something that they will continue to monitor as she grows to make sure it's not causing problems.
Sorry, I've waffled on!

Soph - hi - nothing will stop you worrying hopefully I can reassure you a little.

My dd is looked after by the team at BCH, they are fab, truly. The stuff that has been in the news recently is scary, yes but it is in the news because the clinicians have whistle-blown about some management faults. It is not about poor clinicians. And you may have read two articles, one about a child that died? The little boy's death happened 4 years ago so lessons will have been learned from that it just happened that both stories hit at the same time.

I can't comment about the specifics of the collateral vessel - it depends where it's originating and where it's going to. The hospital are very quick off the mark though if they think it is something that needs attention. How is she doing - does she feed well, put on weight? You're bound to be nervous until you get seen.

Thanks all. I feel a bit better this week, spoke to a friend who is training as a vascular scientist and explained a lot of things. As far as the hospital is concerned, I know that the media loves to bash public services and that many hospitals, schools, departments that have problems are as likely to have dedicated, hardworking, talented staff... I'm just a bit of a worrier, that's all.