Children's at Legacy offers convenience, expertise

When Jill Chisholm, a working mother of three young girls ages 9, 7 and 6, was told by her pediatrician that all of her daughters were going to need tonsillectomies, she needed a solution that would provide the best care and allow her daughters to have their surgeries as close together as possible.

"I thought it was easier having all three go through the surgery on the same day," Chisholm said, "because if they hadn't, I'd be watching the other one or two in addition to looking after the one at the hospital."

Her pediatrician referred her to Children's Medical Center at Legacy. All three of Chisholm's daughters underwent successful tonsillectomies on the same day at the new Children's hospital in Plano.

The Chisholm sisters — Sydney, Andie and Bailey — had trouble sleeping and regular bouts with strep throat before the surgeries. Their tonsillectomies eliminated the cause of both. They were each able to return home the evening of their surgeries and recover with the help of ice cream and popsicles.

"It was much better to be able to have them all going through the same thing at one time," Chisholm said. "They shared with each other how they felt, and they all felt more comfortable having each other nearby."

Pediatric expertise makes a difference

The Children's system, including Children's at Legacy, Children's Dallas and the Children's Pavilion Surgery Center at Dallas, performed nearly 1,400 tonsillectomies in 2008. Children's performs more than 20,000 surgeries every year across the full spectrum of care including:

• General surgery
• Cardiac
• Ear, nose and throat
• Endoscopy
• Gastroenterology
• Transplant
• Neurosurgery
• Ophthalmic
• Oral, maxillofacial and dental
• Orthopedic
• Plastic and craniofacial
• Trauma
• Urology
• Dental
• Physical Medicine
• Pain Management

Dr. Robert Minkes, medical director and chief of surgical services at Children's at Legacy, largely attributes the success of the surgical services at Children's to having pediatric-trained staff who know specifically how to treat children.

"We don't have adult physicians trying to treat children," Dr. Minkes says. "We have pediatric physicians who know how to treat children."

As a mother whose daughters have been patients at Children's, Chisholm agrees.

"One of the reasons I believe so much in Children's is because they know how to treat children and how to deal with them," she said. "That makes a difference."

Tags: tonsillectomies , surgery , strep throat , Plano , Children's Medical Center at Legacy