MILES FOR SMILES

Diagnosis: Malrotation with Volvulous

Age at Diagnosis: 9 days old 

Current Age: 12 weeks old

 

Barret's story, as told by his mother, Whitney:

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On the 5th day home with our baby, Barret started vomiting. As first time parents, we assumed it was just a stomach bug; however the on-call CHKD physician urged us to go to the nearest hospital.  

 

We were medically transported to CHKD where they did an Upper GI contrast Study and diagnosed Barret with Malrotation with Volvulous. Malrotation is when the intestine becomes twisted, causing an intestinal blockage that prevents food from being digested normally. This twisting can also cut off the blood flow to the intestine, and the intestine can be damaged.

 

Within an hour after the diagnosis, he was rushed into surgery. We met with the surgeon and the entire team that would be participating in the surgery who explained in thorough detail their role during the procedure. Although John and I felt overwhelmed with emotion that our son of 9 days old was being rushed into surgery, we felt 100% confident and assured that Barret was in wonderful and capable hands. We knew he was in the right place and felt so fortunate to have CHKD locally because we couldn't waste another minute.

 

Throughout our duration of his recovery in the PICU and hospital room, we had exceptional nurses caring for him and monitoring him every minute. We were discharged from the hospital 7 days after surgery and had phone calls and appointments to ensure his wellbeing post surgery.

 

I don't know what we would have done without CHKD and can't thank the hospital enough for everything they did to save his life. Barret is steadily growing and we love seeing his personality blossom.  His little surgical scar will forever serve as a reminder of how grateful we are to CHKD and how blessed we are to have our son healthy and happy again.