Dr. J. Craig Egan

Dr. Egan was my surgeon/hero for the nuss procedure. I couldn’t have asked for a better dr. From the start of my pectus consultation back in july he was always caring and answered the questions i had with no rush. I felt like I was the number 1 priority even at the consultation, before it was certain i would have the procedure. Along side him was the rest of the pectus team who all were so caring and loving. They always made sure i was comfortable and well educated on what would happen and if we had any questions we could just call the pectus coordinator jackie. (who was just as outstanding as dr. Egan) While i was waking up from surgery I was in no pain and very comfortable thanks to the wonderful pain team. later that day it began to feel sore but nothing terrible. If you have the opportunity, let them give you a shot of methadone. i believe that was the reason i stood up the first day and left the hospital after 2 nights! My surgery was at 8 am but we started early at 7:30am and Dr. Egan came and visited me later that day at 8pm, that just shows how caring he is. Dr. Egan’s work has made my chest look like a “normal” person. He is a hero to me and definitely many others. I’m 20 days post op and i can already feel a difference on my heart, and feels way less strained, even though my breathing isn’t fully back to normal but will be very soon. PCH is an outstanding place and the people there are so loving from the minute i stepped in there.

Before commending Dr. Craig Egan and Dr. Lisa McMahon, I want to commend Phoenix Children's Hospital. The place is amazing. It's like Disneyland and a children's hospital, all at once. The place exudes warmth, love, compassion, positivity, and hope. It's the nicest hospital that I have ever been to, and my wife and I cannot recommend it highly enough!

Now for the doctors. Since my son's case was complicated --- he had pectus excavatum and rib flaring --- Dr. Egan brought in the calvary. And so it was that he and Dr. McMahon worked for 5 straight hours on Ryan, my son. The surgery was 6 hours, but the first hour was spent getting the incision sites sterile, draped, etc.

Dr. Egan and Dr. McMahon did a fantastic job! But now for the rest of the story.

The day after surgery, Dr. Egan visited Ryan. But it wasn't the typical hospital room visit. Dr. Egan wasn't in any hurry. He helped me get Ryan out bed, go to the bathroom, and get back in bed. He also spent a lot of time talking with us. I was blown away. This isn't the norm for a lot of doctors. But then again, Dr. Egan isn't the norm. He's exceptional. His kindness and compassion rival his amazing surgical skills. In short, he's a class act.

Back when my wife and I were trying to find the surgeon who could best help Ryan, Gary, one of my mountain bike friends told me about Dr. Egan. He said his son was slated to have nuss bar surgery with Dr. Egan, and that I should check out Dr. Egan. And I'm so, so happy that I did!

Life is funny. What are the odds that I'd coach Gary's son on my school's mountain bike team, and that his son would need the same surgery that Ryan would, and that he'd lead me to Dr. Egan? What are the odds?! It was amazing. And meant to be!

Ryan had minor pectus excavatum combined with bilateral rib flaring of the 7th-9th ribs. The result of this was that Ryan was getting progressively more and more out of breath as he played league basketball. This was due to his sternum pushing on his heart (limiting his heart's ability to pump blood) and his misshaped ribs (limiting how well his lungs could expand). The result was twofold: his lungs couldn't send enough oxygen to his heart, and his heart couldn't pump the oxygenated blood as effectively. This was beginning to limit his endurance on the basketball court.

When Dr. Egan said that he could fix both issues in one surgery, we were sold on him. We had seen another pediatric surgeon (not part of PCH) about Ryan, but he said that Ryan would require 2 surgeries! Why put your kid through two surgeries, especially when one surgery could get everything done?

But another huge selling point for Dr. Egan was PCH's pain management approach. They proactively took steps to limit the pain (instead of just putting your kid on high levels of narcotics). PCH's pain approach made sense to us. A few weeks before surgery Ryan started on gabapentin (neurontin), 3x a day. (Eventually, about 3 weeks after surgery, Ryan started to wean off of the gabapentin altogether. This medication limits nerve pain. The morning of surgery Ryan got a one-time shot of methadone to further limit pain. After surgery Ryan was given Tylenol, ibuprofen, and low levels of oxycodone. A week after surgery, Ryan got off the oxycodone altogether. And now, 3 weeks after, he takes only a little ibuprofen and tylenol for pain.

Today marks the 20th day after surgery for Ryan. He's doing great! Sure, he has some pain, but the pain is manageable. It's not debilitating. Ryan is up and walking and well on his way back to the basketball court!

Our daughter was diagnosed with pectus excavatum when she was a little girl. We knew it was getting worse the older she became b/c, in her words, she "could fit more water" in the divot that was forming in her chest (not to mention our growing internal tissue concerns). We saw Dr. Egan regularly for a few years prior to moving forward with surgery. Every time we saw him, he never made us feel rushed and we felt as if all of our questions were equally important--even the redundant ones.

We could not have asked for a better surgeon to perform this procedure on our daughter. Dr. Egan made certain the bar was shaped properly for her chest size and that it was properly placed. He also made certain that any scarring from the incision would be minimal. In addition, he took the extra step to get a female's perspective when it came to aesthetics, by asking a female member of his surgical team for her input; no detail was too small. As a mother, knowing that meant the world to me, and once again confirmed that we made the right decision in choosing Dr. Egan. He is thoughtful, knowledgeable, caring, and thorough (not to mention humble) in his continued treatment of our daughter.

Our daughter is two years post surgery and looking forward to having the bars removed next summer--as are we all! We are confident that Dr. Egan and his team will complete the final stage of our daughter's surgery with flying colors. To know that we are in their expert hands offers great peace of mind.