Since my son was born there has been a question over his heart. Not that there was anything wrong with his birth, that was after induction at 42 weeks and was ridiculously fast at just six hours and two minutes. But because his father had a genetic heart condition which wasn’t discovered until he was two years old – a pulmonary atresia – they had kept an eye on him so it was only a small shock when his doctor heard a murmur a few months ago not long after  his second birthday.

Although I say it was a small shock, it was still a shock as, like his dad before him, he’s not shown any kind of behaviour which you’d expect with a heart problem, no shortness of breath, no blue lips, although he is small for his size and doesn’t put on much weight and does go very pale, there’d been nothing to show underlying problems. Because he’d had a cold that wouldn’t shift from his chest for a few weeks his doctor wanted to see him again once it had gone to double check the murmur wasn’t related to illness, which is common in children. A month later the visit back showed a murmur not only very much still present but it could also be heard from the back, usually a pulmonary indicator. We were given the choice of going to see a paediatrician at our local hospital or heading straight for the cardiology unit at our big teaching hospital in a neighbouring city.

Having decided to see the paediatrician first, figuring that he may give us good news straight away that there was nothing serious in the murmur or its placement, we were understandably nervous about the appointment, which took about eight weeks to arrive. All the nursing staff, and the consultant himself, were fantastic but the news wasn’t what we wanted to hear. The murmur was still there, it could still be heard at the back and, because of his dad’s history, they wanted him to see the children’s specialist cardiologist. It meant another wait, up to 12 weeks this time.

When the appointment came, it was much quicker, only six weeks after the local hospital. I didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. Were they rushing our appointment because it could be serious or had we just got lucky with a cancellation? There was no point in worrying about it (although you do) and off we headed for our visit to this massive teaching hospital. We were early and, once more, the staff were amazing. He was weighed and had his height measured and we were in to see the specialist 10 minutes before our appointment time was even due. The specialist was a wonderful man, very calming, very matter of fact as he explained about heart murmurs and the different reasons for them, asking specific questions of my son’s dad about his own condition and how it had been discovered and treated.

He listened again to his heart and the murmur was still present so he decided he wanted a scan and the machine was already there. No having to mess about or go to a different part of the hospital, no having to wait for another appointment, just a man and a machine which gave us the absolute best news we could have wanted to hear. His heart was normal, no missing bits, no holes, nothing which shouldn’t be where it was and a heart beat of normal levels for a child. I could have kissed him and how I didn’t burst out crying I just don’t know.

So we have a boy with a murmur which he may, or may not, grow out of, but at least we know it’s an “innocent” one and, thanks to our free and universal health care, we only had to wait a few months to find out. The NHS may not be perfect but thank God it’s there and available to all, no matter what their financial situation.

Hopefully the next time someone thinks they may feel like wanting to have a moan about the NHS, just remember, we’re very lucky that we have a National Health Service at all.