We went to the doctor today

Today we visited with Dr. Dale Swift, the pediatric neurosurgeon who will operate on Caleb. Thought you might find it interesting to learn something of who he is...

Dr. Dale Swift was born in Lorain, Ohio. He attended the College
of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1980. He
earned his M.D. at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in
Cleveland and was invited to join Alpha Omega Alpha, the national honor medical
society.Dr. Swift completed his surgical internship and residency in
neurological surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. He
completed a fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital of
Pittsburgh in 1992.Since 1992, he has been an attending neurosurgeon at
Children’s Medical Center Dallas, Medical City Dallas Hospital and Texas
Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. He is currently associate clinical
professor of neurosurgery at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical
School. Dr. Swift is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and
the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery.Dr. Swift’s research
interests include the pathophysiology of Chiari malformations, neuroendoscopy in
children and arachnoid cysts. He participates frequently in international
pediatric neurosurgical training, most recently in Bangalore, India, under the
auspices of the International Society of Pediatric Neurosurgery.Dr. Swift and
his wife, Denice, have two children.

Dr. Swift consults all over the world and in a couple of weeks is meeting with some French doctor friends who, with him, have been developing some new techniques. Normally a shunt would be placed strategically in the brain to drain the excess fluid, but he is working on a technique that would open the required area without the use of a shunt and it would provide better flow control, reduced potential for infection and other problems caused by a foreign body in the brain. He is going to give them a call in the next few days to discuss Caleb's case.

At any rate, in about 3 weeks, we will go into Children's Medical Center Dallas for his surgery. He will go in one evening, surgery the next day, come home the following day for a week of recovery.