Cystic Fibrosis
Clark was born on April 10, 2010, in Birmingham, Alabama. Everything seemed normal until a few hours later he couldn’t keep his formula down. He was taken to Children’s NICU the next day, and we were told he had an intestinal blockage. We were devastated. We met with Dr. Chen, and he told us Clark would have to have an operation. The surgery went fine, but Dr. Chen said that his blockage was caused by unusually thick meconium called meconium ileus. As a result, he also had a twist in his bowel called a volvulus. We were told that there was a 70 percent chance that our baby boy had cystic fibrosis. The next day, the part of his bowel that was twisted died, and Clark had to go back to surgery where Dr. Chen removed 20 cm of his small intestine. He was left with three ostomies in his stomach, while in the NICU; we met with Dr. Troxler, a pulmonary doctor. He told us that the genetic test came back, and Clark did indeed have cystic fibrosis. On May 2, 2010, Dr. Chen reconnected his bowels closing all of his ostomies. Then we were off to room-in with Clark on the pulmonary floor. Shortly after moving to the pulmonary floor, Clark had a severe allergic reaction to his formula. So, back to the NICU we went. The next few weeks were very trying times for our family. Once the allergy issue was resolved, we went to the Special Care Unit. We stayed there for a couple of weeks then we went back to the pulmonary floor. We spent a total of 78 days in Children’s Hospital. Thanks to the NICU, SCU, Pulmonary staffs and Dr. Wyton Hoover Clark is doing remarkably well. We are so thankful that the people of Children’s are dedicating their time and lives so that children like Clark can heave better tomorrows.
