Happy Heart

A heart murmur is an extra sound heard during a heartbeat that is caused by turbulence in blood flow through the heart. Most heart murmurs are innocent, which means they do not cause health problems and may disappear with age. But some heart murmurs require medical treatment because they are a sign of a problem in the heart's walls, lining, or valves, or are indications of other diseases or conditions.

What's an Innocent Murmur?
The most common type of heart murmur is called functional or innocent. This diagnosis means the murmur is produced by a normal, healthy heart. It can come and go throughout childhood. It usually goes away on its own as the child gets older and doesn't pose any health threat.

Kids with innocent heart murmurs don't require a special diet, restriction of activities, or any other special treatment. They do not need to take a dose of antibiotic before going to the dentist. Those old enough to understand that they have a heart murmur should be reassured that they aren't any different from other kids. In other words, an innocent murmur is the sound of normal blood moving through a normal heart in a normal way. A simple analogy is that just as we can sometimes hear the sound of air moving in an air duct, or water flowing through a plumbing pipe, we can often hear the sound of blood moving through the heart even if there is not a heart problem.

Jon Milledge went to see the pediatric cardiologist today and was diagnosed with an innocent childhood murmur that is actually quite common and was of no concern to the doctor. He said that 95% of all murmurs were not serious and that 80% of all athletes have a murmur. He was exceptionally nice and put me, Milledge and Jon Milledge at ease with our fears. He asked Jon Milledge all about his baseball and assured him that he had a perfect heart for baseball and that it should never interfere with him playing it or any other sport. In fact, he said that Jon Milledge and his heart were "disgustingly normal"!!! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Thank you God for your guidance, protection, peace and answered prayers! Thank you also to all of you who kept us in your thoughts and prayers over the last couple of weeks. We certainly felt them!