My daughter's rex shunt procedure
By Shelly Hart
My daughter’s path to the rex shunt surgery was a long and winding one. Aubree’s health problems began shortly after birth. She underwent emergency surgery for a perforation in her common bile duct at 3 weeks of age. When she was 18 months old, doctors noticed that her spleen was enlarged. It was not until she was 4 years old that she was diagnosed with portal vein thrombosis, a condition which occurs when a blood clot forms in the large vein that carries blood to the liver from the spleen and intestines.
As she got older, Aubree developed more unrelated medical problems that led us to Children's Memorial Hospital. During the process of diagnosing Aubree's other health problems, we learned about the rex shunt surgery. One week after Aubree’s 11th birthday she had the operation, performed by Dr. Superina.
Since her surgery, Aubree's health has improved tremendously! She has an immune deficiency and was very sickly before the rex shunt. Since having the surgery she has not suffered from so many frequent infections and hasn’t missed much school. She has grown in both height and weight and even though she still gets some extra help in school, her grades have improved greatly. In fact, she has even been able to get A's in some of her classes, a goal that seemed so unatainable before.
Dr. Superina and his staff were wonderful to work with and I could not be more pleased with the outcome. They explained the procedure very well and answered any questions or concerns that we had along the way. It is a miraculous procedure that has given my daughter a better quality of life and I am so glad that Aubree was able to reap so many benefits from this surgery.
You can read more about Aubree on my blog.
Children's Memorial Hospital seeks philanthropic funding to enhance its programs and services. As a proud partner of the Children's Miracle Network (CMN), all funds raised in the Chicago area through CMN also benefit Children's Memorial. To find out how your support can help the hospital better serve children and families, please contact the Children's Memorial Foundation at 773.880.4237 or Foundation@childrensmemorial.org.