Laurie Growing Up

LAURIE GROWING UP

I always hated for school to start. I always made it a point to take a week off from work to go and talk to the teachers, explain her heart condition, and assure them that if she said she was sick, she was sick and wasn't faking. Kindergarten went well. She loved the first grade teacher and first learned about computers there. She was in her first play, "Christmas Around the World" and she was a little Japanese girl. She wasn't supposed to run during her PE time and the regular PE teacher knew this. They once had a substitute and when Laurie came home she told me that she had to run. She had told the teacher that she wasn't supposed to, but she didn't believe her and she made her run a lot. The next day I had to go to the school and they made a heart to wear around her neck when she was in PE so everyone would know she had a heart condition. She hated wearing it. She hated being different.

What a precious Japanese girl she made. She wasn't nervous at all. I don't think I could have stood up on that stage and said her lines like she did. I remember one cute little boy got up there and all he could do was cry. His mother had to go up and get him. I felt so bad for him.

Then came second grade. She had a very strict teacher. As usual, I went up the week before and explained her condition to her, especially pointing out the fact that she was afraid to be left by herself, especially after her heart surgery. She assured me that that wouldn't happen. One day my sister took her to school but all she did was cry and wouldn't go in. She did the same thing the next day. Finally, my sister asked the teacher if she knew what was wrong. She said, "yes, I know what's wrong. I left her in the room one day by herself and when I came back she was out in the hall crying. I was so upset I had to go talk to the principal and he arranged for Laurie to sit in the library during PE time. I hated that teacher. That same year this teacher had to go out on maternity leave and came back to visit for Flag Day ceremony. I told her that Laurie was being considered for the Advanced Classes, and she told me that Laurie certainly wasn't ready for those, that she would never make it. I talked to the principal again and told him I didn't want her under any unnecessary pressures, that if she didn't belong in advanced classes, I didn't want her there. Then of course the teacher said, "oh, if the put her there, she'll do fine".

She was in the advanced classes in the third, fourth and fifth grades and did very well. She had very good teachers. I always took off work on Field Day during the last week in school just to make sure she could go in if it got too hot. She could only participate in things like throwing the softball, walking the egg on the spoon, and a couple of other things. But she enjoyed it.

Laurie was inducted into the Junior Honor Society in the sixth and seventh grades

In December, 1987, about a week before her scheduled appointment, Laurie came in one night and said that her heart was beating fast. I took a count and it was beating 200+ per minute. I called my boss and she called the Pedi Cardiologist and he told her to instruct me to get her to the ER fast. We drove her there, they took her into the Crash room and her to give her Verapamil IV to get her heart back into rhythm. Then she was admitted overnight to regulate the Digoxin for her to take every day. She did well on this med and I had to get a prescription for Verapamil tablets to keep on hand in case she had another episode. Again, I had to go to the school and let them know this. They wouldn't let her keep them in her purse. They had to be kept by the nurse.

In March of 1985 Laurie's cardiologist had a medical accident and fell into a coma and never recovered. He remained in a nursing home until the year 2001 before he died. So I personally went to his office and picked up all her x-rays and records. In the meantime, I had to start all over with a new doctor. The surgeon who did her surgery at Hermann Hospital suggested the cardiologist there. I took her to him for a couple of years.

He suggested thathe do the "cadillac" of ultrasounds to look into her heart, that he wanted to do it himself, not the techs. So we scheduled it, I took her down there, he wasn't there. The tech proceeded to do it until I objected. When he finally showed up, he didn't know how to use the machine, it was brand new. He had the sales people come in and out showing him how to use it, as well as med students and others coming in and out. During the whole process, he proceeded to talk with one of the female sales persons about a "weekend they had spent together". After all was said and done, he asked me what was wrong and I let him have it. I told him I didn't appreciate the way the whole thing was conducted, like he was having a party or something. And then to top it off, he said "oh by the way, you did know that her valve was leaking didn't you? And of course no one had ever told me that before. All of this took place in front of my 10 year old daughter and 15 year old niece. So I called the surgeon and he made an appointment to see him and he checked her out and said she looked okay. I told him about my experience with the cardiologist and informed him that I was going to take her back to Galveston.

So I sent consent forms to Hermann Hospital to send all of Laurie's records, her surgery records, etc., ultrasounds, and her catheterization films (also the ones I hand carried to them from Galveston from when she was a baby) to my boss and I in turn hand carried them to the cardiologist here where I work. We set up an appointment for December, 1987.

In November, 1988 she had another episode and we had to take her into the ER again. Then 20 days later she had another and 11 days later she had another. The doctor told us she needed to be admitted during the Christmas holidays to be started and regulated on another medication, that the Lanoxin was no longer working. She told me that Laurie's "heart was wearing out", that if this medication didn't help, there wasn't anything else they could do. She was admitted and begun on he new med, the doctor took off for the holidays, and we were seen by another cardiologist. I inquired about her prognosis and he said that there were many other medications they could try if this one did not work. So I asked if he would continue to follow her from then on.

In June of 1990 Laurie had a slight episode during the daytime. It resolved however, but I went to talk to her doctor about it. During the conversation I asked if there had ever been a surgery to correct her ventricle. He told me "yes, if you'd asked me four years about we could have done it here. But now she is too old to do here, so there are only 4 or 5 centers in the U.S. that do the Fontane procedure. He told me he was sending a young man to have the procedure and to check with him after July 5. I did, the young man died on the table, so I didn't want to be referred there. She was admitted December 1990 to have another catheterization to send off to a referring center. He sent all of her records to UCLA. He got no response from them for about 18 months, at which time they said she was a good candidate for the procedure. By now it was summer of 1992. He was not impressed because they took so long to answer him, so send her records to Boston. They agreed that she was a good candidate and scheduled the surgery for August and then later rescheduled for December, 1992. You can read the rest in Laurie's Death.

This was Laurie's 10th grade school picture. She didn't like the 9th grade one, so I'm not including it here. She went to school a month or so and then went on home-bound because we didn't want her to get sick and have to have her surgery postponed again.

"Precious Memories"