Tag Archives: United States

Update on Sonya … 7 Months Post Op

1 Reply

Sonya with her mother Tatyana

Almost 1 year ago I brought you the story of Sonya Danilenko, a little girl from Zaporozhye, Ukraine who was dangerously ill with portal hypertension and subsequent bleeding esophogeal varices.  Sonya’s mom, Tatyana was searching for information on the Rex Shunt procedure and happened upon this blog where she learned of the wonderful work of a specialist at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago Illinois by the name of Dr. Riccardo Superina.  Initially, after some very close calls in the Ukraine, Tatyana, who is an emergency physician herself, decided to take Sonya to Germany to see if doctor’s there could assess and perform this rare procedure.  As is the case for many countries in the world, Ukraine does not have the resources or specialists that are able to handle such a complex condition as portal hypertension.  Unfortunately the German doctors were also unable to perform the operation, so Tatyana made arrangements to send her imaging to Dr. Superina and as they say, “the rest is history”.

 After successfully raising the necessary funds to fly to the US (a story in itself), Tatyana arrived in Chicago with Sonya at the end of August 2011, and shortly thereafter Sonya had her surgery.  In the 11.5 hours of surgery Dr. Superina attempted to connect the shunt 5 times, but it clotted off almost immediately on every try. In the end he ended up doing a mesocaval shunt  which is the least desirable, but nevertheless it  is open and flowing.  Sonya is scheduled for her follow-up appointment with Dr. Superina this May in Chicago.  She will need to be continually monitored, but so far she continues to thrive.  In my mind I credit Sonya’s overall improvement to the great care and expertise of Dr. Superina, the staff at Children’s Memorial, her mom Tatyana,  and not to mention the  prayers of many people around the world!

In conclusion it seems that both portal hypertension and its dangerous side effects outweigh any attempt at surgical intervention if the candidate is suitable.  If what I have been told is correct I think that Dr. Superina maybe nearing around the 140 mark for operations on children with the large majority of those being successful.  There are other specialists in the world who have also realized success in treating children and that number combined with what has been done at Children’s Memorial is around 300.   I stand corrected on this information so if you’ve heard of anything different please let me know!

To read more about Sonya’s story click the following links:

http://www.portal-hypertension.com/little-sonyas-plight-update/

http://www.portal-hypertension.com/2011/08/28/rex-shunt-for-sonya-update-08-28-11/

http://www.portal-hypertension.com/rex-shunt-sonya/

http://www.portal-hypertension.com/post_op_6_days/

http://www.portal-hypertension.com/sonya-post-op-one-week-later/

http://www.portal-hypertension.com/follow-up-help-for-sonya-post-op-2-weeks/

http://www.portal-hypertension.com/little-sonya-2-month-post-op-update/

Little Sonya (2 Month Post Op Update)

Leave a reply

As per Tatyana I want to update all of you who have been following the story of little Sonya.  It is hard to believe that it has been over 2 month’s since Sonya’s surgery at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago … time has passed very quickly, but unfortunately Sonya continues to have a few complications.

About a month after Sonya’s surgery she developed a hernia on the left side of her incision.  Dr.Superina has looked at it and he believes he can fix it, however Sonya will have taken off Coumadin first before any attempt can be made to intercede.  He is looking at doing the surgery at the 6 month post op stage which would be sometime in March of 2012.  The Mesocaval Shunt operation that Dr. Superina performed on Sonya seems to be working, however she has fluid in her belly and the hernia is getting larger. It would be risky and dangerous to go back to the Ukraine at this point with the hernia and the fact that she is on Coumadin.  According to Tatyana the hospitals in the Ukraine do not have the knowledge to deal with this, especially if Sonya was injured in any manner.  It would be hard to stop the bleeding on Coumadin and she could easily die if it was not stopped in time.  So for the sake of health and safety they will stay put and when the time comes for them to leave they will have to take the risk and go home.  They have a follow-up appointment with Dr. Superina on November 10th and from that point he should have a clearer picture of what needs to be done.

For background information leading up to the surgery on Sonya click the following links:

http://www.portal-hypertension.com/little-sonyas-plight-update/

http://www.portal-hypertension.com/rex-shunt-sonya/

Tatyana and her family are looking forward to being reunited as they have been apart for over 2 months now.  When they finally arrive home she will be doing paper work to apply for a visa to study in the US.  Tatyana is a physician and in order to practise medicine in the US she would have to upgrade to US standards.  After upgrading she would be expected to complete a one year residency in a US hospital.

Please continue to pray for Sonya’s health and now Tatyana as she and her family make preparation for application in the US.

I’ll keep you posted!

Until next time,

Clint