Review Detail

Oh my gosh! Where do I even begin. We noticed the summer of 2014 when our son was 12 that his chest started to look different (caving in). I immediately started doing research and learned he had pectus excavatum. I started going to doctors for options. I was not happy with what I was hearing about the procedures that they would do for this condition, plus many didn't do the surgery as often as I would like (unexperienced). My son's pediatrician put me in contact with a family in my area thats son was seeing a doctor in Virginia (we are in Charlotte NC) for the same problem. After talking with her, I made an appointment to go see Dr. Obermeyer up in Norfolk at CHKD.. It was one of the best decisions of my life. We started seeing him in October 2014 and took my daughter as well as she complained that her chest bone stuck out. Sure enough she had the opposite condition called pectus carinatum. She would not need surgery but would need a brace to wear for a certain amount of time per day (at night). With our son, we decided first to try the "vacuum bell". We knew up front that we would probably not get the best results with this but wanted to try it (I was still nervous about surgery and how it would affect my son's life). We did get some improvement but very little. My son did get discouraged and stopped wearing it and with doing that, his chest went back to what it was if not worse (as he was to get older, he would probably continue to get worse). So at this point, we decided to do the surgery. Dr. Obermeyer explained everything to us so well that we were at ease. My son was starting to get very self-conscious about his chest, even with his shirt on. When I told my friends/family he was having the surgery, the asked why have the surgery so far away. I said that I was going to go where the best surgeon was, no matter how far away. Everything with the surgery went awesome and I give Dr. Obermeyer all the credit. He had our son doing exercises and breathing exercises to do prior to the surgery that really helped with his recovery. Typically kids stay 5 days in the hospital after surgery. We went home on the 3rd day post-op. Our son even stopped having to take pain medicine a few days after getting home--again I credit Dr. Obermeyer with his fast recovery. Our son's results are outstanding and I can see the confidence in my son even at 3 months post-op. We can't wait to see the final results!! Dr. Obermeyer's knowledge and skill needs to be praised, as he is helping so many kids.