{"id":5043,"date":"2018-05-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prd-www.mccdn.io\/vitals\/?p=5043"},"modified":"2023-06-29T21:25:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T21:25:26","slug":"a-year-later-andrew-keeps-coming-back-mary-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/updates-www.mccdn.io\/vitals\/a-year-later-andrew-keeps-coming-back-mary-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"A year later, Andrew keeps coming back to Mary Bridge","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

By Roxanne Cooke<\/strong><\/p>\n

Almost a year ago, 8-year-old Andrew Mistachkin unexpectedly found himself at Mary Bridge Children\u2019s Hospital as doctors attempted to diagnose whatever was causing his extreme weight loss, abdominal pain and fever.<\/p>\n

Though a test for Crohn\u2019s disease initially came back negative, it turned out that\u2019s what he was suffering from \u2014 a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects the digestive tract.<\/p>\n

Today Andrew is managing his Crohn\u2019s and doing much better, but still coming back to visit his Mary Bridge doctors, nurses and Child Life specialist Tryphena Pinch whenever he can.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just really like my doctors,\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to see them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew is the youngest of three siblings and lives in Aberdeen, about an hour-and-a-half west of Mary Bridge Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

After he complained of abdominal pain and a fever last May, his family took him to the local emergency room. The ER suggested follow-up with primary care, where the family was told to drive him to Mary Bridge right away.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd before you know it, there\u2019s lots and lots and lots of blood draws,\u201d Andrew recalls when he first arrived at the hospital.<\/p>\n

It took a long time to diagnose him, says his mother, Jennifer. Doctors eliminated things gradually.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were seven or eight doctors looking at him for different reasons,\u201d she says. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t figure out what was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew remembers the surprise when Crohn\u2019s disease was finally confirmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors were blown away because I wasn\u2019t showing any signs,\u201d Andrew says. \u201cIf I could have, I would have shown as much as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

One benefit of all the tests, though, was the discovery of an unrelated congenital heart defect. Andrew\u2019s heart is being monitored by a cardiologist every six months now, and he may need an aortic valve replacement in the future.<\/p>\n

To manage his Crohn\u2019s disease, Andrew takes several medications and follows a special diet. He keeps a food journal, tracking not only what he eats, but how it makes him feel.<\/p>\n

Taking all those meds wasn\u2019t easy at first, but Mary Bridge Child Life Specialist Tryphena Pinch worked with Andrew to make it more fun. Pinch created a chart that Andrew added stickers to every time he took a medication on time. When his chart was full, he received a prize.<\/p>\n

\u201cAndrew is a wonderful kid,\u201d Pinch says. \u201cHe struggled at times with his new routine and voiced his dislike, but never gave up. He is courageous and brave.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was memories like this that made Andrew want to say thank you \u2014 in the form of ice cream. His mom suggested a gift basket might be more practical, and the family paid a special visit to the hospital to drop it off last September.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a super sweet, loving kid,\u201d Jennifer says. \u201cHe has such a great attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew isn\u2019t shy about how miserable he felt while in the hospital last year, but he\u2019s still eager to visit his care team whenever his family is in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time we drive through Tacoma he says \u2018I wanna see my doctor at the hospital,\u2019\u201d Jennifer says. \u201cEven though he was so sick and miserably unhappy, and after being poked and told what he could and could not do, he talks about them all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today Andrew is doing much better, but still visiting Mary Bridge whenever he can.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kids-health"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA year later, Andrew keeps coming back to Mary Bridge - MultiCare Vitals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/updates-www.mccdn.io\/vitals\/a-year-later-andrew-keeps-coming-back-mary-bridge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A year later, Andrew keeps coming back to Mary Bridge - 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