Are they any positive experiences with heart murmurs?

Well..here we go again. I feel like I just keep getting more and more bad news about my cats. I took my 9 month old kitten in today to have a lump on her cheek looked at. She had an abscess in that same area back in March but the vet said that this felt fluid-like and since she had no other signs of anything being wrong abscess wise (no fever, healthy appetite, etc) she gave her an antibiotic shot and wants to see her back in 2 weeks. She suspects that the area may be sensitive and its scar tissue thats irritated right now.

But, the bad news came when she did a regular exam and heard a grade 3/4 heart murmur. Looking back in her records, no heart murmur was detected prior to this. She was completely freaking out at the vet though, and was definitely terrified to be there, so the vet did say that its very possible that her reaction to being there, plus the possible infection in her cheek, could have affected how her heart sounded, but she wants to check it again in 2 weeks when she rechecks her cheek. If it still sounds the same then we have to go to the cardiologist.

I lost a cat to undiagnosed heart disease back in April, and I just went through a scare with another cat (he ended up with asthma but the cardiologist couldn't find anything wrong with his heart). So of course just when I get good news about one cat's heart, I get bad news about another.

I know that a grade 3/4 is pretty significant, but I'm still hopeful that this will have a happy ending.

Has anyone had a cat with a grade 3/4 murmur and the cat lived a long healthy life? She's only 9 months old, and the fact that there didn't seem to be a murmur present months ago has me terrified because its obviously something that developed over time.

I know the bad stories. I guess I'm just looking for some hope. I know no one can promise me anything or guarantee that she'll be fine or not fine, but I just feel like I have been hit with so much bad news lately, so I'd love to hear that there is still some hope out there

In the meantime, any good vibes sent my way to Samantha are greatly appreciated!

Thank you all! I know that your experiences may not end up being my experience, but I was so upset when I came home last night, so its really nice to hear, that this isn't always a bad thing. I'm concerned that it registered as a 3/4, but since you said yours registers a 2/4 that does give me hope. She was definitely freaked out. She was shaking, running out of my arms and the vets and trying to squeeze herself into a corner as tightly as she could. I could feel her heart beating fast and I never feel it like that at home. So maybe she'll be one of the lucky ones. I have a follow up appointment in 2 weeks to look at the infection on her cheek and the vet will check her heart again. If its being caused by fright/terror then I suspect she'll hear the same thing again, but hopefully we will get lucky. If not, I'll definitely be heading to the cardiologist.

ETA: I just realized that I didn't proofread the title of this thread and since i don't think I can change it, its obviously supposed to say "are THERE any positive experiences" not "are they". I'm always bugged by stuff like that so since I just did it I felt I needed to correct it .