A superb doctor in NC (A story of successful surgery – a long post)
Our 15-year-old son, James, (to be 16 tomorrow), had a successful scoliosis (T4-L4) surgery on Thursday, 5/31/2007, and came home yesterday (Monday, 6/4), after 4-nights of hospital stay. And we (mother, Erin; father, Owen) had the first restful night in the comfort of our home last night.
James was diagnosed with scoliosis on 11/10/2006. Until that day, during the annual checkup, when his pediatrician pointed to big hard lumps on his back—one on his upper right and the other on his lower left—we had no idea he had scoliosis. We scrambled to have his x-rays taken and see the doctor on the same day, fearing the worst. When we found that it was scoliosis, and nothing else, we actually breathed a big sigh of relief.
The office of his pediatrician normally had been referring their patients to another scoliosis doctor. But that day there was a person who knew Dr. Lloyd Hey in our area (Raleigh, NC). Even though he was an out-of-network doctor (we have high-deductible insurance that prevents us seeing a doctor except annual checkups and real serious situations even for in-network doctors), we went to see Dr. Hey because his office said, “Don’t worry about money, and come right away” and because it was late Friday afternoon and we still didn’t know it was scoliosis and we couldn’t get to other doctors.
We took an immediate liking to this MIT-Harvard-educated doctor. He was warm and caring and compassionate, and we were moved by his personal story of why he became a doctor (a severe injury that required 11 surgeries: see www.heyclinic.com; he told us this after learning that James has aspiration for MIT or Caltech). Dr. Hey said his curves (L42 and T37 double) were not too severe, and told us to come back in 3 months to have another checkup.
On the day of the second checkup (3/2/2007), we were surprised to find that his curves had progressed to L50 and T49, and came home with heavy weight in our hearts after scheduling the date (5/31) for T4-L4 surgery, right after his final exam. We agonized so much in March and April, our minds oscillating between “wait until next year” and “go ahead and get over with it.” Erin read almost every post in NSF forum, we both read 4 books on scoliosis, and got great mental and practical support from this (NSF) forum members, from wonderful people like Sherie and Carmell. Later, we were very excited to find a post by Christina_in_NC, titled “Dr Lloyd Hey – NC,” which said, “My 13 yo daughter had surgery with Dr Hey on Feb. 22, 2007. He is wonderful and did great work. Her curves went from T48, L48 to 0,0! He has a web site - www.heyclinic.com.” Christina happened to live just a few miles from us, she helped us through this difficult time in many aspects. She shared the video of her daughter’s surgery (although it was very difficult to look at her back that was opened up), gave us many tips, and on the surgery day, came to the hospital and stayed with us in the waiting room until we saw the doctor, and the following day visited us in the hospital with her pretty daughter, Erin. My son, who had felt terrible that day with a sinking feeling that he might never recover, found comfort from Erin’s “full” recovery in just 3 months.
On 5/1/2007, we saw the renowned Dr. Betz and his associate doctors of Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia for a second opinion. Unfortunately, James’s curves had progressed more (to L57), and Dr. Betz told us that a surgery was unavoidable. That firmed our minds to go ahead and get it over, and not wait until next year, which we had been considering (had asked Dr. Hey whether it's a good idea, etc.) because of many things related to his school and his health. We found Dr. Betz and his associates and all the people in the hospital were very nice and very helpful to us and the x-ray films they took were very good quality. They are truly doing wonderful things for many children. We asked the hospital to send a copy of x-ray films to Dr. Hey (which they did), and, on returning to North Carolina, went ahead of having MRI done as recommended by these doctors. (Although it was a bit wasteful, we are glad it was done; it's nice to know that nothing else is wrong).
On returning from Philadelphia, from 5/2/2007, we actively proceeded to prepare for the scheduled 5/31 surgery with Dr. Hey, with no more doubts about when to do it. We found our comfort that not only Dr. Hey is closest from our home (just 9 miles), but also his skill and experience are superior through his many practices (he does surgeries 4 days a week) and with continuous updates of his knowledge and skill. We found comfort that Dr. Hey seemed to take the least time to operate, no anticipated blood transfusion (the doctors in Philadelphia told us 4 units of transfusion would be required, and longer operation, and, to our surprise, stainless steel in general). But to be sure that we are not going to regret after it's done, we researched stainless steel vs. titanium after we come back from Philadelphia, talked with Sherie in Texas, who knew a lot of things, and discussed with Dr. Hey, along with other questions. We determined that titanium is much preferable to ss (at least for James), because of less weight, less interference with MRI, more closely mimics the resiliency of the natural bone, and does not emit harmful metal ions (mainly found in this forum: search with “titanium vs. stainless steel). We worried about the “metal memory” problem with titanium that is bent in room temperature, but was satisfied with Dr. Hey’s explanation that lab test in LSU was done in different environment than in real application, in which the rods are firmly screwed into the bones, etc. Besides, we found that Dr. Hey has a knack of bending titanium rods just right for the patient (he loves it as an artist loves painting) and has special instrument for rotating it just right. We were also worried about the quality of the hospital (Duke Raleigh Hospital, which is about 20 miles from the main Duke Hospital), but found that it has all the modern facilities of monitoring. and found, during the pre-op, that Dr. Hey was very much respected by all the staff there, though he no longer belongs to the hospital (he had been a professor and spine surgeon in the main Duke University Hospital). Also, we liked the fact that Dr. Hey was doing everything by himself, with the help of his assistant when a third hand was needed.
(Continued in Part 2)
Our 15-year-old son, James, (to be 16 tomorrow), had a successful scoliosis (T4-L4) surgery on Thursday, 5/31/2007, and came home yesterday (Monday, 6/4), after 4-nights of hospital stay. And we (mother, Erin; father, Owen) had the first restful night in the comfort of our home last night.
James was diagnosed with scoliosis on 11/10/2006. Until that day, during the annual checkup, when his pediatrician pointed to big hard lumps on his back—one on his upper right and the other on his lower left—we had no idea he had scoliosis. We scrambled to have his x-rays taken and see the doctor on the same day, fearing the worst. When we found that it was scoliosis, and nothing else, we actually breathed a big sigh of relief.
The office of his pediatrician normally had been referring their patients to another scoliosis doctor. But that day there was a person who knew Dr. Lloyd Hey in our area (Raleigh, NC). Even though he was an out-of-network doctor (we have high-deductible insurance that prevents us seeing a doctor except annual checkups and real serious situations even for in-network doctors), we went to see Dr. Hey because his office said, “Don’t worry about money, and come right away” and because it was late Friday afternoon and we still didn’t know it was scoliosis and we couldn’t get to other doctors.
We took an immediate liking to this MIT-Harvard-educated doctor. He was warm and caring and compassionate, and we were moved by his personal story of why he became a doctor (a severe injury that required 11 surgeries: see www.heyclinic.com; he told us this after learning that James has aspiration for MIT or Caltech). Dr. Hey said his curves (L42 and T37 double) were not too severe, and told us to come back in 3 months to have another checkup.
On the day of the second checkup (3/2/2007), we were surprised to find that his curves had progressed to L50 and T49, and came home with heavy weight in our hearts after scheduling the date (5/31) for T4-L4 surgery, right after his final exam. We agonized so much in March and April, our minds oscillating between “wait until next year” and “go ahead and get over with it.” Erin read almost every post in NSF forum, we both read 4 books on scoliosis, and got great mental and practical support from this (NSF) forum members, from wonderful people like Sherie and Carmell. Later, we were very excited to find a post by Christina_in_NC, titled “Dr Lloyd Hey – NC,” which said, “My 13 yo daughter had surgery with Dr Hey on Feb. 22, 2007. He is wonderful and did great work. Her curves went from T48, L48 to 0,0! He has a web site - www.heyclinic.com.” Christina happened to live just a few miles from us, she helped us through this difficult time in many aspects. She shared the video of her daughter’s surgery (although it was very difficult to look at her back that was opened up), gave us many tips, and on the surgery day, came to the hospital and stayed with us in the waiting room until we saw the doctor, and the following day visited us in the hospital with her pretty daughter, Erin. My son, who had felt terrible that day with a sinking feeling that he might never recover, found comfort from Erin’s “full” recovery in just 3 months.
On 5/1/2007, we saw the renowned Dr. Betz and his associate doctors of Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia for a second opinion. Unfortunately, James’s curves had progressed more (to L57), and Dr. Betz told us that a surgery was unavoidable. That firmed our minds to go ahead and get it over, and not wait until next year, which we had been considering (had asked Dr. Hey whether it's a good idea, etc.) because of many things related to his school and his health. We found Dr. Betz and his associates and all the people in the hospital were very nice and very helpful to us and the x-ray films they took were very good quality. They are truly doing wonderful things for many children. We asked the hospital to send a copy of x-ray films to Dr. Hey (which they did), and, on returning to North Carolina, went ahead of having MRI done as recommended by these doctors. (Although it was a bit wasteful, we are glad it was done; it's nice to know that nothing else is wrong).
On returning from Philadelphia, from 5/2/2007, we actively proceeded to prepare for the scheduled 5/31 surgery with Dr. Hey, with no more doubts about when to do it. We found our comfort that not only Dr. Hey is closest from our home (just 9 miles), but also his skill and experience are superior through his many practices (he does surgeries 4 days a week) and with continuous updates of his knowledge and skill. We found comfort that Dr. Hey seemed to take the least time to operate, no anticipated blood transfusion (the doctors in Philadelphia told us 4 units of transfusion would be required, and longer operation, and, to our surprise, stainless steel in general). But to be sure that we are not going to regret after it's done, we researched stainless steel vs. titanium after we come back from Philadelphia, talked with Sherie in Texas, who knew a lot of things, and discussed with Dr. Hey, along with other questions. We determined that titanium is much preferable to ss (at least for James), because of less weight, less interference with MRI, more closely mimics the resiliency of the natural bone, and does not emit harmful metal ions (mainly found in this forum: search with “titanium vs. stainless steel). We worried about the “metal memory” problem with titanium that is bent in room temperature, but was satisfied with Dr. Hey’s explanation that lab test in LSU was done in different environment than in real application, in which the rods are firmly screwed into the bones, etc. Besides, we found that Dr. Hey has a knack of bending titanium rods just right for the patient (he loves it as an artist loves painting) and has special instrument for rotating it just right. We were also worried about the quality of the hospital (Duke Raleigh Hospital, which is about 20 miles from the main Duke Hospital), but found that it has all the modern facilities of monitoring. and found, during the pre-op, that Dr. Hey was very much respected by all the staff there, though he no longer belongs to the hospital (he had been a professor and spine surgeon in the main Duke University Hospital). Also, we liked the fact that Dr. Hey was doing everything by himself, with the help of his assistant when a third hand was needed.
(Continued in Part 2)
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