04-16-2020

Have you ever gone to Instacare/Urgent Care only to be sent to the Emergency Room (ER)? Have you ever spent 8 hours waiting in the ER for an ear infection? One of the challenges of parenthood is knowing where to go when something goes wrong with your child. Generally speaking, as you go from office, (...)

01-18-2017

A VSD, or ventricular septal defect, is a fancy medical term to describe a hole in the heart that isn’t supposed to be there. VSDs are relatively common and are one of the top 3 causes of heart murmurs that I see in my clinic. While VSDs can be part of other/bigger heart defects, they happen (...)

08-29-2016

Did you know that essentially everyone is born with a hole in the heart? When people hear about “holes in the heart,” they instantly think of major heart problems. But I’m here to assuage some of the worry. One particular hole, called the Patent Ductus Arteriosus (a.k.a., PDA) is a life-saving necessity in utero. The thing (...)

06-29-2016

We love to use fancy names and terms in medicine; it makes us feel smart. But the truth is, the terminology is not actually all that complicated. Knowing a few key medical terms can help you understand any medical-ese that you may encounter. Keep in mind, however, if your doctor ever uses a term that (...)

04-05-2016

Hearing your pediatrician say, “Your child has a heart murmur,” can cause instantaneous anxiety. In six simple words your mind envisions heart surgery, failure, and death. It’s amazing how we as parents are programmed to worry whenever we hear that something could be wrong with our child’s heart. The most common heart scenario in childhood (...)