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Story Guidelines
Step 1: Basic information
To begin, you will be asked to fill out a form with basic information about yourself: your name, city, and e-mail address. The latter is needed for verification or if we need to contact you. Only your first name and your city (if provided) will be used in a story that is posted – not your last name.
Step 2: Story title
The title should provide information about the general subject or theme of your story, perhaps including your child’s diagnosis. This kind of information will help other site visitors find your story in the archive.
Step 3: Share your story
Fill out the “Your story” box in our form. You can use a maximum of 500 words.
If you would like to take time to work on your story before posting, you may want to draft your story in an electronic document. After you are satisfied with your story, you can return to our Web site later and cut and paste in your information.
Step 4: Agree to terms and conditions
You will need to check off a box – telling us that you have read and understand Children’s privacy statement – before your story can be submitted.
Writing rules
Please avoid the following, which can immediately disqualify your story from being used on the Web site:
- Potentially libelous statements.
- Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
- Personal attacks, insults, or threats.
- Commercial product promotions.
- Information taken from another source without permission.
- Private, personal information relayed by a third party without the patient’s/ family’s consent. Examples: first and last name of patient or any health information that can identify the patient.
- Comments unrelated to the subject/spirit of the Web site.
- Hyperlinks to material that is not directly related to the discussion.
- Uploading, posting, e-mailing, transmitting, or otherwise making available any content that is considered unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable.
Read Stories About Families Facing ENT Surgery
Gratitude for my colleagues after autistic son's tonsillectomy
My son Tommy is a great kid, and autistic. When he had to have his tonsils out, Children's was the only alternative I considered, as I work as an at-home transcriptionist for Children's and know how much we really care about our patients.
Children's excellence helped me focus on my daughter
My very happy and healthy 3-year-old daughter always had trouble sleeping through the night. Finally, she was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. Dr. Levinson said she needed to have her tonsils and adenoids removed. Everyone I knew kept telling me that it was not a big deal, nothing to worry about. But, I kept thinking, this is my baby; it is a big deal Although I knew this was a surgery that was performed many times a day and I felt quite confident with Dr. Levinson's skills I was still very anxious and upset the day of the procedure.
A double-whammy with ice cream
When our two young daughters (4 and 5 at the time) were hit with a double-whammy tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, it unsettled our entire family. Sure, we regarded these mostly as routine procedures, but up to that point the sum of our children's medical experiences mainly included regular annual check-ups and the periodic chest cold and crud. As parents we fretted about absolutely everything.
Stories about Children’s Cardiovascular Patients
Because Children's cardiovascular program is one of the top 10 pediatric cardiovascular programs in the U.S., it was chosen to represent Children's in a recent advertising campaign. You can view the story of Allison's Silver Butterfly and other Children's stories.
Nick Evanson underwent three heart surgeries for a congenital heart defect, performed by David Overman, MD, pediatric cardiac surgeon at Children's of Minnesota. Now 8 years old, Nick is doing fine. Read Nick's story.
Amy was born with serious heart problems. Now a healthy adult, she's part of a group of adults with reconstructed hearts who still need care. Children's of Minnesota is preparing to care for this new generation. Read Amy's story of being born with a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot.
To read stories written by Children's families, many of whom were treated for cardiovascular conditions, visit the archives of the My Children's Story Project.
Heart Surgery For Children: A Delicate Balance
Nick Evanson underwent three heart surgeries for a congenital heart defect, performed by David Overman, MD, pediatric cardiac surgeon at Children's of Minnesota. Now 8 years old, Nick is doing fine.
Helping children who are born with heart defects is a major strength of Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. Significant heart problems are the most common birth defect, affecting nearly 1 percent of infants.
David Overman, MD, and Frank Moga, MD, are the pediatric heart surgeons who practice at Children's of Minnesota. Working with their colleagues at Children's Heart Clinic and the hospital, Overman and Moga perform delicate and complex surgeries that save lives and improve quality of life for children.
"Children's is considered a high volume center, based on numbers of surgeries, by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons," Overman explains. In 2006, 429 cardiac surgeries were performed at Children's. "On balance, high volume translates into better results, because experience is a major factor in quality of care."
Among hospitals in the metropolitan area, Children's cares for nearly two-thirds of pediatric patients hospitalized for cardiac surgery.
Forty percent of cardiac surgeries at Children's are performed on patients from the neonatal intensive care unit. "Many repairs for congenital heart problems are done early in life," Overman says. "Because congenital heart defects are rare and there is a wide range of them, surgeries on such patients are inherently high-intensity undertakings."
Congenital heart problems in children are entirely different from adults' heart problems, emphasizing the importance of Children's focus on pediatrics. Pediatric cardiologists at Children's Heart Clinic see patients with a wide range of congenital heart problems. Specialized testing to assess a problem may involve a pediatric cardiologist who specializes in using CT technology at Children's to obtain finely tuned studies of the moving heart. Hundreds of children each year undergo testing and treatment in Children's cardiac catheterization laboratory. Information that pediatric cardiologists gain in the cath lab often forms the basis for surgeons to plan their work.
During open-heart surgery on children, Moga and Overman work as a team, drawing on a total of 19 years of surgical experience. Likewise, other operating room staff at Children's – Minneapolis also work solely with children. Pediatric anesthesiologists and pediatric certified registered nurse anesthetists are skilled at supporting patients during complex and sometimes- lengthy surgeries. Dedicated surgical technologists and registered nurses in the operating room also specialize in pediatric cardiac surgeries.
After surgery patients go to Children's pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The medical team treating patients includes not only the cardiac surgeon and pediatric cardiologist, but physicians who specialize in pediatric critical care medicine. PICU physician specialists are on-site 24/7. Registered nurses and respiratory therapists with specialized pediatric critical care knowledge and skills care for these patients after surgery. Supporting them are a number of professionals, including pharmacists and social workers, who also are experienced in caring for these patients and families.
"Our superior results are truly a team effort, involving care providers from birthing and diagnosis, to the surgical intervention itself, on through to recovery and discharge home," Overman says.
Children's Delivers Excellent Results for Cardiac Surgery
Patients who undergo heart surgery at Children's do very well, as measured against national benchmarks of care reported by the Pediatric Health Information System. Compared with the top pediatric hospitals treating cardiac patients, Children's patients undergoing cardiac surgery in 2006 had:
- A length of stay in the hospital lower than expected, given the severity of patients' illnesses.
- Fewer deaths than expected, given the severity of the patients' cardiac conditions.
Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
Children's Annual Report
Wendy's Story
Incredibly fond memories of everyone who had worked to save my life 31 years ago
04/17/2008
By Wendy
Peoria, AZ
Every year between April 22 and May 2 I think about the wonderful staff at this hospital (although 31 years ago when I was a 7 year-old patient it was called "Children's Health Center").
To this day I have incredibly fond memories of everyone who had worked to save my life when I was a child (not once but twice within a 10 day period of time). Dr. Sane, who I have learned has retired, Dr. Roback, Dr. Scherling, all of the nurses, Child Life staff, and even the janitorial staff all played such a large role in not only my recovery, but also helped to form me into the adult that I am today.
When anyone asks me about my experiences as a child with Cancer, I always tell them that it was a wonderful experience, which I would never change because of the amazing people who I came into contact with while I was ill.
Thank you to staff of yesterday and today for everything that you do. Your dedication and carrying will last and continue long past your years because of what you do for the children who go through your hospital.
