Toddler leaves hospital for first time since birth | BabyCenter Blog

Here?s a whole new twist on the idea of coming home for Christmas.

Though Adalynn Willett is two years old, the only home she has ever known is the Cook Children?s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

According to an ABC report, Willett was born with an extremely rare condition called omphalocele. She was born with her entire intestinal system, including her liver, outside of her body.

After 850 days and 28 different surgeries, a team of specialists managed to successfully put all of Adalynn?s vital organs back inside her body where they belonged. While not entirely in the clear, Adalynn still has a tracheotomy to help her breathe and feeding tube for sustenance, her attending physician, Dr. Nancy Dambro, reports Adalynn?s long-term future looks bright.

?She will need care for a long time, but there is hope that she will not need lifelong care.?

The image of this adorable little girl, have you checked out that picture, sleeping in her own bed for the first time ever, is moving. It?s also heartrending to imagine her saying good by to the hospital staff and doctors who, after 850 days together, must feel like family to her. And her to them.

Knowing how attached a patient, and even a patient?s parents, can get to nurses and doctors? anyone who nurtures you? I would guess Adalynn?s departure was bittersweet.

But I would be wrong:

?The fact that we were able to manage it so that she is going home for Christmas is nice,? says Adalynn?s attending physician, Dr. Nancy Dambro. And, after spending almost every day with the young child, Dambro notes the trip home is not bittersweet. ?You?d think it is, but it is not,? adding, ?Her job is not to be here every day being cute and smiling at me and cheering me up on my rounds. Her job is to go home and become a productive human being.?

How true. Doctors are much less sentimental than I. And that?s a good thing.

I am guessing the Willett family is going to have a truly memorable Christmas.

Could you imagine not being able to bring your baby home from the hospital for more than two years?

photo by Bryan Willett

Source: http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/1206201two-year-old-leaves-hospital-for-the-first-time-since-birth/

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