The end of World War II promised new beginnings. At 46 hours, it had been excruciating labor, but mother and daughter had left the hospital apparently healthy. With only an ordinary measure of luck, life at last would be sweet. So maybe it was nothing when the Andersons began to think the blood vessels in their daughter's neck pulsated strangely. Maybe it was only imagination that, as Patty got older, her tiny chest seemed to bulge.
New parents see the worst in everything.
Still, better not to take chances. Betty took Patty, almost 2, to the family doctor. Listening to her heart , the doctor detected a murmur.