A new hospital…and a long drive….coming soon!

As mentioned in my last entry, Buddy was referred for a consult with a new surgeon. (At the same hospital, but in a different practice.) The good news was that he agreed with Doctor #2 that Buddy NEEDS the surgery. The bad news? He will NOT do it. At least he was a little more up-front than Doctor #3, who also refused to do the surgery. He explained that the doctor probably had an ulterior motive for refusing to do the surgery: no one wants to do surgery on a 16 year old boy! Putting it that way, I understand his dilemma. Obviously, he did agree with Doctor #2, that Doctor #3 was kind of delusional in saying that Buddy was manifesting his pain through depression. (And as a side FYI, Buddy went for something unrelated to the PCP, and she RULED OUT DEPRESSION as even being an option. She did an evaluation.) I mean, the evidence is on the numerous tests.

So, this new doctor offered another solution: shipping Buddy off to the DuPont Children’s Hospital in Delaware. Apparently they WILL be more likely to chance operating on him, and some of the top children’s spinal surgeons are located there. The spinal surgeons up here are not specialized for kids. The hospital is about 1 hour and 45 minutes away. We are going for a consult at the end of the month, but it seems through the conversation my husband had on the phone with the scheduler, that this is not a big deal for them…they do it all the time. That makes me feel more confident we are making the right choice. Doctor #2 is in complete agreement, as we brought up the suggestion from the new surgeon at Buddy’s follow-up after his spinal injection.

Keep Buddy in your thoughts and prayers!