10-year-old Stephanie is a vivacious young girl who enjoys reading her Junie B. Jones books, playing volleyball, coloring and playing board games. In late spring, Stephanie started to experience difficulty breathing, especially at night. She complained to her mom that she would wake up jumping because she could not catch her breathe. That’s when Stephanie’s mom, Tanya, took her to a primary care doctor who diagnosed her with asthma. After numerous asthma treatments and various medications she still wasn’t getting better and Tanya began to get frustrated and worried. Tanya, who used to work at Long Beach Memorial, remembered that Miller Children’s Hospital was also on the same campus and her husband heard it had a good reputation for being an excellent children’s hospital.
Due to Stephanie’s symptoms she was treated for asthma at Miller Children’s but when treatment wasn’t working, Dr. Eliezer Nussbaum, MD, medical director, Pulmonary & Cystic Fibrosis, told Tanya that he wanted to admit Stephanie and do a bronchoscopy, a procedure that allows a doctor to look at a patient’s airway through a thin camera, to see what was causing her difficulty breathing. At first, the procedure seemed to not show anything wrong, then as he went further down he discovered a large mass in her throat. Dr. Nussbaum and his team removed 90 percent of the mass two days later.
“Stephanie is a very lucky girl,” Eliezer Nussbaum, MD, medical director said. “Had the mass been any closer to her blood vessels in her throat she may not have been able to have the surgery without serious complications.“
“Thanks to Dr. Nussbaum’s persistence and knowledge we were able to catch this mass before it was too late,” Tanya Flores, Stephanie’s mom said. “My husband and I thank him and his whole team for everything; because of them Stephanie is still here with us.”
Today, Stephanie is healthy, has no symptoms of asthma and plays volleyball without any difficulties thanks to the specialized care at Miller Children’s Hospital in Long Beach.
Pulmonary, Cystic Fibrosis, Allergy & Asthma Center
The Pulmonary, Allergy, Asthma and Cystic Fibrosis Center at Miller Children’s Hospital offers “total pulmonary care,” meaning board-certified specialists in pulmonary, asthma, allergy and immunology, work together to cover the entire pediatric respiratory spectrum. Miller Children’s Pulmonary, Allergy, Asthma and Cystic Fibrosis Center offers fully integrated, state-of-the-art, respiratory care for children from birth to 21 years with conditions involving the lungs and respiratory system such as, asthma, lung disease of premature infants, cystic fibrosis, allergies and sleep disorders. The Pulmonary, Allergy, Asthma and Cystic Fibrosis Center at Miller Children’s treats children nationally and internationally.
Miller Children’s offers specialized programs in asthma, allergy, immunology, and cystic fibrosis (CF), where children receive a comprehensive care plan that will manage their symptoms from diagnosis to treatment by a specialized care team. Miller Children’s is a leader in advanced pediatric respiratory care technology, such as pulmonary function testing for infants, lung function testing, exercise cardio-metabolic-pulmonary testing, allergy skin testing, fiber-optic bronchoscopy procedures, sleep studies and endoscopic examinations.
Miller Children’s Stands Apart
- Miller Children’s is one of only a few children’s hospitals to offer “total respiratory care” and is a one-stop-shop for children and adolescents with pulmonary and respiratory conditions.
- Miller Children’s became one of the only Pediatric Pulmonary Centers on the West Coast to offer pulmonary function testing for infants.
- The Pulmonary, Allergy and Cystic Fibrosis Center at Miller Children’s Hospital is also the only children’s hospital in the region to offer a team of physicians double board-certified in pediatric pulmonary and allergy/immunology.
- The Cystic Fibrosis Center is one of the largest in the region — and works closely with the Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition Center — to provide comprehensive care for cystic fibrosis patients who have lung and GI ailments.
- The Pulmonary, Allergy and Cystic Fibrosis fellowship program at Miller Children’s Hospital, trains new physicians in leading-edge techniques while encouraging them to perform creative research to further the knowledge available to treat Miller Children’s young patients.
- Miller Children’s has a seamless pulmonary transitional program for adolescents with pediatric pulmonary conditions, ensuring teens and young adults are transferred to an adult care setting in a flawless manner.
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