Reply #110: Our son, born in 1973 (our first child) had a serious birth defect

[SoCalDem]

(extrophy of the bladder), and had 29 surgeries before his 8th birthday. The first was when he was just 19 days old, and weighed about 5 lbs.

We had medical coverage through my husband's job. None of the local doctors were particularly interested in anything but removal, and doing a bilateral-urostomy..(a tube from each kidney & two drainage bags , one on each side).

He remained in the hospital post-birth for 19 days, and during that time we frantically searched for someone,,,anyone, who could offer this little guy a better future.

one phone call to our old family doctor, back in Kansas, led to an immediate referral to Mayo Clinic.

Mayo Clinic & St.Mary's Hospital in Rochester treated him for 8 years, often three surgeries a year (6-7 week stays each time).

THEY NEVER ASKED FOR MONEY "UPFRONT". The only thing we ever had to "sign" was the admittance paperwork, so they knew where we were staying & how to reach us.

I don;t know how Mayo operates these days, but their treatment of us, and of him, made a horrible situation somewhat bearable.

We did have to pay something, but it was AFTER we returned home, and we just paid what we could.

Truthfully, I have employed "selective amnesia", to deal with a LOT of that whole ordeal. Some things are just too painful to dwell on.