Dr. Park

(Isn't it cute that Nathan is signing "All Done" in the picture!) I love baby signing time!

Dr. Park is by far one of my very favorite doctors of Nathan's. I remember vividly the day after Nathan was born how I had gotten a call from Dr. Park saying that Nathan was struggling significantly to breath and it was due to his severely recessed jaw. He didn't mention to me that Nathan had a code blue call for him in the NICU at Primary's that day(nor did Jake bother to tell me till 2 weeks later!). He was very kind yet concerned that as his mother I had to make the decision whether to operate or not. I was so frightened having to make a decision for a baby I'd only held for 2 minutes on the day of his birth before they had transferred him to the NICU at Utah Valley Regional. In the middle of the night he was determined to be sick enough to warrant having the LIFE FLIGHT team transfer him to Primary's. I'd never seen this doctor's face or had a conversation like this before, but the distinct impression I had was to tell him yes, I would consent to him performing surgery in the morning on Nathan.

He did a fabulous job on him then. He's worked very closely with us to take care of Nathan's severe obstruction sleep apnea. Though I didn't choose him to repair Nathan's cleft, he didn't treat us differently because of it. He's always told us like it is and said what he would do if it were his child. When Nathan had his tonsilectomy, he told us that a small percentage of children don't tolerate the surgery well and what could possibly happen. He even had the forethought to say that he felt Nathan should be sent to the PICU just to be watched.

Nathan's tonsillectomy and appendectomy didn't go as planned. He was in that less than 1% of children group who don't tolerate that surgery. Yet, he always made sure we knew what was going on. We felt we were an equal team member with him in our son's care. Not a lot of doctors treat you that way.

At Nathan's 4 week check up he was a totally different little boy. Dr. Park walked in the room and without saying hi said, "I think you and your husband are the only parents that I've met that didn't flip out when your son had a code blue called on him." I smiled and replied that it certainly wasn't the first time and I'm sure its not going to be the last.

Dr. Park is such a sweet man with a good heart. He is an EXCELLENT children's doctor. We were very fortunate that he was on call when Nathan was transferred to Primary's. He has made a huge difference to Nathan.