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An Unexplained Disease

As Told By: Patricia M.

Having babies is a wonderful experience, but our experience was scary as well. Our first child was a girl, weighing in at eight pounds and two ounces. Her color wasn't good, she didn't cry, and the diagnois wasn't good. She couldn't take my breast or the bottle.

We were advised to take her to Mary Bridge Children Hospital. Once there, Dr. Tanbara, a famous children's doctor, did a test that revealed she had an enlarged heart and liver. That was the reason she could not suckle. He had never seen anything like this before, and he could not find the reason for her condition after all kinds of tests and blood work. He was baffled by this and the only thing he could do to keep her alive was by intravenous feeding.

The baby lost 3 pounds. Dr. Tanbara did not give up, and his nurses were the greatest; they would rock her to sleep each night. We visited her every day, and prayed and prayed. And the day before Valentine's Day, we got a phone call from Dr. Tambara saying that we can could come in to feed her. She was able to take some fluids - formula - about 2 ounces at a time. He could not explain it: she just started to cry and, since she has never cried before, he told the nurses to try to give her a little bit of formula to see if she would take it. She had no problem and sucked it right down. Her heart and liver went back to their normal size.

We were able to take her home on Valentine's Day. Our little girl is now 38 years old and is married with two healthy little boys. I don't know what happened. (Her birthday February 1st; she was in hospital for two weeks.) Our daughter's OB never heard of that condition before, so he was just as baffled as Dr. Tanbara. Maybe it was some kind of virus, who knows. But one thing Dr. Tambara said was that it may or may not come back.

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