Looking for recommendations for surgeon in Chicago

[fran]

Hi! My daughter is 15 and has a 47% curve. She is going to need surgery but at this point unless she gets worse quickly we are going to try and wait until she is done with high school because she plays sports and also because I think it would be easier if she were older as far as following the restrictions after surgery and of course I am also pretending that this will go away. I have been seeing Doctor Christopher DeWald at Rush, he specilaizes in scoliosis...I really like him but I wondered if any one has used him or if there is some one else in Chicago that I might want to talk to. Thanks!

[MindyG]

Second opinion

Fran-
I am not familiar with any doctors in Chicago. I don't know if your willing to travel, but my scoliosis doctor is in Kalamazoo, MI. His name is Dr. Dale Rowe located at 1000 Oakland Dr. Kalamazoo, MI 49008 269-337-6200. It's takes a while to get in, so I would call soon if you want to get in sometime this fall. I had two surgeries when I was younger. I've been experiencing some pain recently and went back to see him early this year. I liked seeing him as and adult. He's straight forward and understands your concerns. I'm not saying he's the best (he might be), but I like him and he's all I know. It would be worth it to see him for a second opinion. Hope that helps.
Mindy

[tommyo]

I have the same question. I know a number of people that had very successful surgeries by Chris Dewald's father Ronald. I saw him in 1979 and was told then I was not a candidate for sugery back then. I am now scheduled to see his partner, Dr. Hammerberg. I believe these are two of the best, but would love to here opinions from others. This type of question is typically answered that, "my doctor is best", so I would love to here from a third party in the medical business. Linda Racine are you out there?

Tom

[LindaRacine]

Hi Tom...

I'm totally flattered that you think so, but I'm not in the medical field. I have run a scoliosis support group for many years, and have talked to a LOT of scoliosis patients however. Unfortunately, I just don't hear much about the Chicago doctors. (That could actually be a very good thing. It COULD mean that all of their patients have good outcomes and don't feel the need to seek out additional information.)

I just responded to your private message, that I noticed that Dr. Rinella did a fellowship in St. Louis with Keith Bridwell. I think that's excellent training.

http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/Dep...ho/rinella.htm

Best of luck in finding the right doc.

Regards,
Linda

[becky20fan]

My response is over 2 months after your post, but I just found this forum and thought I'd respond (since you're planning to wait until your daughter is done with high school anyway, I figured better late than never).

I just responded to another post so I copied my post into this message (so sorry for the duplicate information). I will say though, that I would ask the doctor if there are reasons you should NOT wait until after your daughter finishes high school. By the way, everyones experience may be different, but I had my surgery two weeks before winter break at school, and returned to school when everyone else did after New Years. I only missed 2 weeks of school. Lucky for me, I am not an athletic person, and it was a bonus for me that I was able to get out of gym class for two years. In fact, because I did not have to take gym class, I filled my schedule with other classes and was able to graduate a semester early.

I just stumbled onto this forum as I was searching for information on pregnancy, and more specifically, labor and delivery after scoliosis surgery. I was diagnosed with scoliosis in 8th grade (during my high school physical) by my doctor. We had x-rays done and were referred to a specialist, who said that my scoliosis was too far along for a brace, and recommended surgery. I was very lucky to have been referred to Dr. Hammerberg and we had a wonderful experience. He is a wonderful doctor with a great bedside manner.

My mom and I were very grateful to have been referred to such a wonderful doctor. I never met with Dr. DeWald, but our brief observation was that he seemed a little more "rushed" and didn't have the same openness as we felt Dr. Hammerberg did. But that was 14 years ago and it was based on brief observations. One thing that I know for sure, they are top notch doctors.

Everything that I experienced with the surgery was positive. It took less time than normal to do the surgery, I had less bleeding than usual, I was only in the hospital for a week, out of school for a month, and had no problems (other than my scar from my hip "spreading" - which I think was due to my overdoing things during recovery).

I am finding it interesting that so many are complaining of lots of pain years after surgery. I have been fortunate so far and experienced no pain.

[aphartman]

My son has been seeing Dr. Lubicky in Chicago since he has been 6 months old. He just did vertebral stapling with him last year. We've seen him for 8 years not. We really like him. We travel from Michigan. He is at Rush University Med Center. 312.738.2903. We did a lot of research on doctors and this is the best one we found. Very well known. I hope this helps. I know the frustration. We had seen quite a few doctors before we found one we liked.

[MaryLou]

Chicago Doctor

This is a very late posting, but for anyone looking for a doctor in or around Chicago, I highly recommend Dr. Purnendu Gupta at The University of Chicago. He specializes in Adult and Pediatriac Scoliosis and is an incredible surgeon. He is kind and compassionate as well as brilliantly talented and a masterful surgeon. As you can see, I can't say enough good things about him. I owe him my life.

MaryLou