Our ASD / VSD Experience

The Baby was initially diagnosed with ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) and VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect) during her 1-month medical check-up.

Her paed noticed irregularities in her breathing and heart rate.

He immediately advised us to consult a paediatric cardiologist who came highly recommended. 

We arranged for an appointment 2 weeks later at 8.30am (the only available slot). 

Let's name him Dr L.

The day of the appointment arrived. 

We drove from Damansara, beating the morning traffic heading into KL.

It was a total nightmare!

We had a baby and a toddler to prep before heading out and leaving the house earlier was a challenge.

We reached the hospital around 9am.

By the time we registered and stepped into the cardiology clinic, it was already 9.30am.

We were an hour late so we patiently waited for Dr L to re-schedule his appointments and taking the time to see us.

Upon him diagnosing The Baby and checking her vitals, etc, he advised us that The Baby has 2 holes in her heart.

Fortunately, both holes weren't critical and that it was normal for certain newborns to have small holes in their hearts. 

Dr L added that the holes would eventually close off and the safest thing to do was to monitor and re-scan within a month's time. 

When we tried to set up an appointment within a month, we were disappointed when his only available slot was at 8.30am. :(

What we did was to set up 2 appointments for The Baby on the same day.
8:30am - Appointment with Dr L
10:30am - Appointment with paed (monthly check-up)

The appointment day arrived.

This time, we left the house slightly before 7am and managed to reach the hospital by 7.40am. 

Even the registration counters weren't opened yet but there were already a few patients waiting to register. 

At 7.45am, two counters opened despite the business hours stating 8am.

Since we had time to kill before 8.30am, we had our breakfast in the lobby. 

By 8.15am, I brought The Baby with me to the cardiology clinic whilst Lil' Tot and hubby finished their breakfast.

I arrived at the clinic but no one was at the front desk. 

I could see 2 nurses walking about, prepping stuff.

I left my file at the counter in their drop-off tray while I attempted to calm The Baby and get her to sleep.

You see, the hospital called us a day prior to advise that they had wanted to sedate The Baby before her heart was scanned so that she remained calm throughout. 

Both hubby and I weren't agreeable to it and told them that we'll work on ensuring that she doesn't fuss about. 

So there I was pacing back and forth just so that The Baby would sleep and keep calm. 

It was 8.45am when they picked up my file.

Mind you, the appointment with Dr L was supposed to be at 8.30am.

No one told us anything about Dr L being delayed or whether he was available to attend to us.

At that point of time, I was the only patient.

A couple of minutes later, they requested me to bring in The Baby to check on her height and weight. 

The nurse was gentle with The Baby and told me that considering she was calm, they needn't sedate her. 

After checking The Baby's vitals, we were told to wait at the lounge.

It was already 9am so we continued to wait.

It was close to 9.30am when Lil' Tot and hubby arrived at the clinic.

Hubby asked if I've already seen the doctor, I told him that we were still waiting. 

Hubby immediately approached one of the nurses and she told him that Dr L was on his way.

Hubby told the nurse that I had waited since 8.15am, way before the appointment time and we had traveled before 7am with the kids just to reach the hospital on time. 

No apologies offered and the nurse only mentioned "We can't control the doctor, we'll have to wait."

:(

We completely understand if Dr L is in surgery or has an urgent matter to attend with another patient but leaving us to just wait there with no updates is not really cool.

9.45am, still no sign of the doctor and hubby approached the nurse again. 

She mentioned that the doctor was on his way (still) and that he's PROBABLY at the parking lot. 

Probably? You don't sound sure yourself, missy. 

We were then ushered into one of the rooms and they advised us to lay The Baby down on the hospital bed until the doctor came. 

We were left all by ourselves in the room.

It was barely 5 minutes when I picked up The Baby again as the room was really cold and I didn't want her to fidget or get restless as they might end up sedating her. 

I've been keeping her calm since 8.15am so wouldn't want to waste all that effort. 

10am, we were still waiting and I was getting a bit upset.

Imagine waiting from 8.15am until 10am without any proper updates.

I told hubby that I was heading to Level 6 for our 10.30am appointment considering that they would also need to check her vitals.

Since the cardiology clinic has hubby's number, they'll call him if anything.

Off I went to Level 6.

Around 11am when we were waiting to see our paed, Dr L called hubby's mobile.

Dr L apparently apologized for the delay and advised that he was attending to another patient. 

He also mentioned that he'll accommodate to our preferred timing for our next appointment. 

Hubby just thanked Dr L for taking the time to call and will think about scheduling another appointment.

Of course, we didn't. 

We were upset that we had to wait around without receiving any updates. 

We were upset that we had arrived early, with 2 kids in tow, but was not able to see the doctor. 

We were upset that this was a follow-up check-up as our previous check-up cost us MYR 1000 with Dr L and the least that they could have done was to keep us informed. 

They failed to do that.