Dr. says he's not worried right now

[beccasbank]

I'm not sure if I'm in the right spot, but figured if not, someone would show me where I need to be.  
     My daughter is almost 6 years old and she has asthma.  She goes to the family doctor, her asthma specialist, and her asthma/allergy specialist on a frequent basis.  She's had a cough for the past few days and with asthma, it's hard to tell if it's a simple cold or her asthma.  So, I took her to the family doc, he ran x-rays and says she has a touch of pneumonia.  He also said that he's not going to worry about it right now, but that he thinks she may have an enlarged heart.  This is the second time he's told me this in a year.  At first, I thought he's a doctor and would know if it was worth worrying about, but after this time, I'm wondering if I should push the issue.  We have state Medicaid and thought maybe this insurance is why she's hasn't received any tests.
    I read on the internet that it can be caused by the heart doing too much work, and figured with asthma, it's probable that she wasn't getting enough air, and her heart overworked itself.  Does anyone know if this is a possible cause?  And does anyone have any advice on getting this doctor to recommend a closer look at her heart?
     Thanks for any help, Becca

[ireneo]

I know sleep apnea (when people have long pauses in their breathing during sleep) can cause heart problems. I don't know if asthma would do the same thing. I have asthma and no one's mentioned a concern about its affect on my heart. I do have arrhythmias however.

A couple of thoughts: do you know how high/low her oxygen sats are normally and when she's having an asthma flare? And you could ask the doctor if your daughter could have an echocardiogram done. It's painless and they could get a better feel for the size of the heart as well as her ejection fraction. An x-ray is pretty vague.

[ItsMeBeck]

I'm certainly not an expert, but I thought I'd throw this out there.. My son has a concave chest bone, it's actually quite pronounced. I just recently had him in to the doctors to have it checked out and he said right now all looks fine and he's not worried about it. One thing he did mention is that sometimes due to the concave chest, that his heart would look enlarged on x-rays and I should be aware of that.. I obviously don't know if that could be your daughters issue or not, but I figure it's worth being aware of or checking into. If you are really concerned you should definitely let your doctor know and tell him know that you'd feel better if he ordered further testing to rule out possible causes of the enlarged heart. Good luck! ~Beck