On the search again....Hospitals and doctors in Chicago?

[Sierras Mom]

Hello! It's been awhile since I've been on the boards...life kinda happened and we've just been waiting things out. So we are back to searching for a great doctor and hospital now. So I was wondering is there any good revision doctors in Chicago? I hear that Rush Medical is suppose to be a wonderful hospital. Just alittle background info...My daughter is 18, she's had 3 open heart surgeries and 3 spine surgeries...the doctors really screwed up her back. She now has Kyphosis and Lordosis. We went to see Dr. Samdani who sent us home saying he would not do surgery on his own daughter if she was in the condition that mine was in mainly because Shriners doesn't have a dedicated cardiac team. He's a good doctor, I believe that but his fear was for the massive blood loss that might occur over 3 surgeries....the amount of surgeries it would take to break her fusion and redo her back. So can anyone tell me anything about Chicago and the doctors there? There are so many doctors and hospitals it is really mind boggling to know who would be the betst to go too.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

Kellie

[Susie*Bee]

Hi. I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's problems. I had my surgery at Rush, but my surgeon, Dr. Hammerberg, now has moved all his practice and surgeries to Shriner's (it was split before). I go for my check-ups to his partner, who is supposed to also be an excellent surgeon. His name is Christopher DeWald. I know another member was quite please with her surgery at University of Chicago(?) with Dr. Gupta. If your daughter is not too old for Shriner's, maybe she could go there... Best wishes.

[Confusedmom]

I had a consult with Pernendu Gupta in Chicago. He was one of Lawrence Lenke's fellows. He seems very kind. But I gotta tell you, I think with your situation I'd be looking for THE top doctor in the country. I would PM Linda Racine, the moderator, and get her advice. The blood loss can be very significant, so you need a top pediatric revision specialist who can be accompanied by a top pediatric cardiologist. Maybe the Hospital for Special Surgeries in New York? Just a thought. Best wishes!

Evelyn

[mariaf]

Hi Sierra's Mom,

I am not sure if HSS in NYC has a full medical team (cardio specialist) either that would be able to handle this sort of thing. Maybe they do, but I've never heard it mentioned for that.

I replied on the other thread before seeing that you are located in Chicago. I will see if I can come up with anything, but I agree that you would want THE best team in the country for this and should keep the search open to all areas, which I can see you are doing as evidenced by your travelling to Philly.

Best of luck and please keep us posted!

[Sierras Mom]

Thanks Susie, ConfusedMom, and Maria! I actually live in Louisville, Ky. but I was looking at a list of top hospital's and it named Rush as one of them. We are open to traveling anywhere if insurance would allow because I do want her to have the best. I will check with Linda(?) and see what she has to say. There is so much to consider so we aren't in any rush to be honest. Before we went to Philly we checked with The Hospital of Special Surgeries but for some reason I can't remember why at this point it wasn't a good choice. Things are different now since she has a different insurance so there may be more options for her then there were before. I may make an appointment with her cardiac surgeon to see what he has to say, her cardiologist seems to thing there shouldn't be a problem with her having surgery but he is not a surgeon. I will keep you all posted. I'm off to bed now. Thank you for the replies!!

Kellie

[mariaf]

Kellie,

I also posted on your other thread asking if Dr. Samdani was able to recommend anyone. Just curious - I am hoping that he or perhaps Dr. Betz can offer a few suggestions. Let me know - thanks, and best of luck!

[Confusedmom]

Dr Steven Glassman is a respected scoliosis surgeon in Loiusville. Have you seen him? I'm not saying he's the one to do the surgery, but maybe he could point you in the right direction. Of course, I will also have to put in a plug for my surgeon, Dr. Lawrence Lenke in St. Louis. He works at Barnes Jewish hospital, which is rated as a top 10 orthopedic hospital nationwide. He is definitely one of the best scoli surgeons, but I'd want to find out about the cardiac team there, as well. Keep us posted.

Evelyn

[kennedy]

i whould recmenion Dr P Gupta at the university of chicago