The day Mason was born, the doctor heard a slight “clicking” sound while listening to his heart with a stethoscope. The clicking sound turned out to be a mild heart murmur. Later, a specialist officially diagnosed Mason with a mild case of pulmonary valve stenosis, combined with a dilated pulmonary artery. I was scared when I heard those words. Terrified, actually. The doctor reassured us that it was “very mild,” but hearing that your child may have something wrong with his or her heart is never pleasant.

When Mason was young, the doctor told us that Mason would need to see a pediatric cardiologist every year so that they could keep an eye (or ear) on his condition. For the first few years, we went every year. Then it became every other year. The last time he went, he was seven. That time, they said they didn’t need to see him again until he was fourteen. That day was yesterday.

Mason’s heart doctor told us that through the natural course of things, Mason’s condition could have got better, stayed the same, or got worse. His opinion today was that things have stayed the same. We also got a lot of good information today. Because the defect is on the pulmonary (“low pressure”) side, his prediction was that it will never be an issue. He also said we should schedule one more appointment before Mason turns 18, but chances are, after that they won’t schedule any more appointments after that. The doctor performed both an EKG and an ultrasound and saw nothing that concerned him.

Today was a great day.