Iowa Surgery Reviews

University of Iowa Hospitals

What CHD does/did your child have? Our son was born with truncus arteriosus (one artery off of the heart instead of two.)

What was done to correct this CHD? A homeograph was put in to work as the pulmonary artery and valve.

Where was your child's surgery done? At day 10 he was operated on at the University of Iowa Hospitals and clinics.

Who did the surgery? Dr. Christopher Caldarone. He now practices at the Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto.

When was the surgery done? February 2000

What did you think of the hospital and staff? Wonderful, helpful and supportive. I felt like he was my child and they were there to help me with his medical care

What did you think of the surgeon? Wonderful, perfectionist who understands that the parents are as much the patients as the child.

Would you take your child back to this facility/surgeon? Yes. We did take our son to another facility for the replacement of the conduit due to our regional relocation between surgeries and because Dr. Caldarone had left the hospital. Plus we felt that we had wanted a surgeon with more experience operating on the complex nature of our son's surgery then the new surgeon at Univ. of Iowa. We did not find anything disparaging about the new surgeon and he did respond to all of my questions, but we stayed in the Texas area for the follow-up surgery.

Any advice for others looking at this facility/surgeon? The Ronald McDonald house is wonderful and has great family suites. The hospital was also extremely accommodating to families with other children. They had open bays for infants which allowed for networking wiht the other parents so that you did not feel so alone. They allowed visits by heathy siblings in the ICU which helped the siblings understand why Mom and Dad were at the hospital so much. The emotional stress of the situation was minimized.

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