Colorado Surgery Reviews

Univ. of Colorado Children's Hospital (Denver, CO)

What CHD does/did your child have? Transposition of the Great Arteries.

What was done to correct this CHD? Arterial Switch Operation

Where was your child's surgery done? Children's Hospital in Denver, CO

Who did the surgery? Dr. Francois Lacour-Gayet

When was the surgery done? October 2003

What did you think of the hospital and staff? They were wonderful, Dr. Lacour-Gayet had a surgical nurse that was a life saver, she came out every hour during the surgery to tell us how Riley was doing, and what stage of the operation they were in. She was so sweet, and so easy to talk to.

What did you think of the surgeon? Our son hasn't had one set back since the minute he came out of the OR, and I contribute a good share of that to the surgeon. Our son gets the rest of the credit for being such a little bruiser!!

Would you take your child back to this facility/surgeon? Absolutely.

Any advice for others looking at this facility/surgeon? I would recommend Dr. Lacour-Gayet and the whole Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, the nurses and all the other docs on Dr. Lacour-Gayet's team to anyone. They were the absolute best.

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Univ. of Colorado Children's Hospital (Denver, CO)

What CHD does/did your child have? :: Hypoplastic Right Heart

Where was your child's surgery done? :: Children's Hospital in Denver, Colorado

Who did the surgery? :: Dr. Max Mitchell

When was the surgery done? :: Jan 21 2006

What did you think of the hospital and staff? :: The staff at Children's medically knows what they were doing; we had some issues with some staff, but in all they did an excellent job. The nurses in the CICU were excellent.

What did you think of the surgeon? :: He has great bedside manner; he will explain everything to you until you understand it and not sugar-coat it either. He also is very good in the operating room, he saved my son's life! I would recommend him to anyone.

Would you take your child back to this facility/surgeon? :: Yes, definitely. He did my son's second surgery in late April 2006 and will most likely do his third surgery.

Any advice for others looking at this facility/surgeon? :: Children's hospital in Denver has an excellent staff; they are ranked as one the best Children's hospitals in the nation. Dr. Mitchell is a brillant surgeon. Also, the Ronald McDonald house is right across the street from Children's; it is as close to home as you can get and doesn't cost much to stay there. The best part is that meals are provided, a huge relief when you are under so much stress.
 

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Univ. of Colorado Children's Hospital (Denver, CO)

What CHD does/did your child have? Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome 

What was done to correct this CHD? Norwood 12/29/03, Glen 5/15/04, Fontan to be done around age two or three

Where was your child's surgery done? Denver Children’s Hospital

Who did the surgery? Dr. Francois Lacour-Gayet

When was the surgery done? Norwood 12/29/03 Glen 5/15/04

What did you think of the hospital and staff? They are wonderful, couldn’t ask for better. They saved my baby's life. What more could you ask?

What did you think of the surgeon? He is wonderful.

Would you take your child back to this facility/surgeon? Yes 

Any advice for others looking at this facility/surgeon? Not that I can think of

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Univ. of Colorado Children's Hospital (Denver, CO)

What was done to correct this CHD? First they placed a P.A. band on his aortic artery to slow the flow down to the lungs and allow time for his holes to close.  Then the blood flow switch in his heart so the had to do his transposition surgery and the lose 80% of his holes put his coronary arteries where they go...

When was the surgery done? first was March 15, 2004; second was June 22, 2004

What did you think of the hospital and staff? They were great all the way though my stays.... all the doctors were very good at telling me what was going on and what was going to happen next... the nurses were very patient with me and all my questions...  and Ester was great at finding us while our son was in his 8+ hour surgery... 

What did you think of the surgeon? He's the best with out him our son would not be with us today....

Would you take your child back to this facility/surgeon? Yes! we are not moving out of state anymore just because we want to stay close to this hospital...

Univ. of Colorado Children's Hospital (Denver, CO)

What CHD does/did your child have? :: Tetralogy of Fallot and a PDA

Where was your child's surgery done? :: The Children's Hospital in Denver

Who did the surgery? :: Dr. David Campbell

When was the surgery done? :: Nov 18 2005

What did you think of the hospital and staff? :: They were AMAZING! Both times. He had a BT Shunt done on November/18/2005 and his "full repair" for Tetralogy of Fallot on July/21/2006. They saved my son twice.

What did you think of the surgeon? :: He is the BEST! I loved him! He is great and gives easy explanations. Is is in a way blunt but not in a bad way - he just lets you know what is going on and doesn't sugar coat it.

Would you take your child back to this facility/surgeon? :: I do all the time and that is my reason for not moving back to my home state - California.

Any advice for others looking at this facility/surgeon? :: The whole cardiac team is just AMAZING. The facility is amazing and there is actually a bigger one to come. It opens in the fall of 2007 and is all single rooms and has a whole cardiac dedicated unit.