Saying Farewell to the Team Leader

Well, I am sad to announce that Marissa's much loved pediatrician, Dr. G, is leaving his practice here in the Springs. He is going to be taking a part time position in Denver at the beginning of the year.

I was devastated when I heard the news. Dr. G has literally been a Godsend for Marissa. Her first pediatrician was happy to just sit back and watch her develop. He was not interested in being proactive to find out more about Marissa's issues and he expressed no interest in helping us find the right specialists to meet her needs. I was brand new at this game so I surely didn't know what we should be doing and who we should be talking to based on her medical history. I needed guidance and he did not offer any. Its not that he wasn't a good dr, he just was not used to taking care of babies with so many complex medical needs as Marissa. I think she even scared him a bit. He just wasn't a good fit for her.

Two years ago, I was talking to Marissa's speech therapist about my issues with her current pediatrician. She suggested I talk to Dr. G because a lot of the kids she helped saw him and he is well known in the special needs community for his dedication to these kids. I called his office and spoke with the receptionist. I gave her a brief history on Marissa and, after I was done, she let me know that he had a significant waiting list to become his patient. I asked her to give him the message about Marissa and ask him if he could refer us to someone he thought would be a good fit, and she said she would. To my surprise, two days later I got a call from the Dr. himself! He asked me to tell him about Marissa in greater detail. After I was done he was quiet for a minute and then told me to call his receptionist in the morning and make an appointment for the week after Thanksgiving. He was going to take Marissa on as a patient, bypassing the waiting list! He later told me that kids like Marissa are his passion. He wants so badly to help them achieve better health and help them succeed in life. He is truly in this business for all the right reasons and it shows.

Over the next six months, he lined up all of Marissa's current specialists. He read in her NICU chart that she had some kidney anomalies, so he contacted a pediatric urologist in Denver who holds a clinic here once a month and spoke with him about her. He then called me and told me that this specialist, whom I had never even knew he was speaking with, wanted to test Marissa for kidney reflux. I had never heard of such a thing before! We went in for a VCUG and a kidney ultrasound and discovered that she indeed had kidney reflux and it was a pretty severe grade. He put her on prophylactic antibiotics and told us to bring her back in six months for a retest. Six months later, her reflux had not improved and the urologist recommended surgery to correct it. She had surgery last January and her reflux is now corrected. If we had stayed with her first pediatrician, we might have only caught on to her kidney reflux when it started to make her really sick, thus causing possible damage to her kidneys. Like I said before, Dr. G is an absolute Godsend. He will be greatly missed.

I have already considered asking him to pick Marissa up as a patient after he moves. The problem with this is that he is her primary care provider and we see him more often than any of her other drs., about once every three to four months when she is healthy. We just can't drive all the way to Denver every time she needs to be seen by him. If he were one of her specialists, this option would be more of a possibility.

He referred all his patients to a practice who have been his on call partners for the last 20 years. I got a tip from a friend about a certain dr. in that practice (thanks Janay!!). I asked Dr. G to speak with Dr. M to give him a heads up about Marissa and ask if he would be willing to take her on as a patient. He received Marissa's chart and said he would gladly be her dr. Dr. M has a background in neonatology, so he has a strong history of working with special needs kids. He is currently serving as chair of the Pediatric Section at Memorial Hospital for Children, and is on the executive committee of the Colorado Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Plus he comes highly recommended by Janay, Milo's mom, because he was Milo's dr. when they lived here. So, it looks like Marissa will be in perfectly capable hands!

Dr. G did let us know that he will be partnering with Marissa's new pediatric practice for hospital call. So, while we hope to see him again, we hope it won't be in a professional capacity, if you know what I mean!

While I am very saddened to see Dr. G go, I am hopeful about the future with Dr. M.

Thanks for all you have done for us Dr. G! We love you and will miss you dearly!