Dr. Pentiuk, the GI we met at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, helped us understand all of Stanton’s possible issues by using a pie chart. He said that Stanton’s GERD (reflux disease) is one piece of the pie. The other pieces are food allergies, delayed gastric emptying and food related trauma. Out of these four pieces, we have the GERD under control with Prevacid and BufferBabies. Dr. Pentiuk would like for Stanton to have a Swallow Study to just make sure his swallow is normal. He also recommended a complete allergy work up and both the liquid and solid versions of the Delayed Gastric Emptying scan.
So now we have a decision to make: do we travel back to Cincinnati for all of this testing? Or do we try to find a spot closer to home? There are pros and cons to both choices.
I’m hoping to learn some more details about both the Blair Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson, MS and the New Orleans Children’s Hospital. I know both of these hospitals have great reputations for cancer…but I need to learn more about their GI and Allergy departments. The New Orleans hospital is only an hour from us and Jackson is about three hours.
I really loved the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. They are not only experts in the field, but the entire facility was completely child centered. We experienced a true team approach in Cincinnati and Dr. Pentiuk, the GI, was very clear about what our next steps for Stanton should be. So far, I haven’t experienced that anywhere else we’ve been. I feel like I’ve been calling the shots, doing the research, leading and pushing the doctors, faxing the records, getting everyone on the same page...and it’s exhausting! It sure would be nice to find a doctor, close to home, who would step up, take the lead and fight for Stanton’s health.
If I can find a real team in Jackson or New Orleans, then we’ll stay close to home. If not – the decision to travel back to Cincinnati will be an easy one to make.
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