WE GOT JACKSON IN TO JOHNS HOPKINS TO MEET WITH THEIR FEEDING TEAM!!!! ohmygosh, i am laughing (out of sheer delirium) and crying at the same time. we have been tirelessly pursuing the feeding program at kennedy krieger. i started running into walls though because this program does not admit anyone inpatient until they are atleast one year of age. the difficult part has been that johns hopkins children’s center and kennedy krieger partner together for their feeding program, and so, talking to multiple people at both locations has worked against me… until now!!! as it turns out, a friend of our’s in paul’s squadron just married someone who did her post-doctoral work at kennedy krieger. i got in touch with her last week, and she put me in touch with her friend who happens to be on one of the feeding teams with this gi specialist at hopkins, dr. darbari, who i had been researching. on friday i had my cell phone glued to my ear, calling both johns hopkins and kennedy krieger, while simultaneously googling specialists on my laptop until i found contact information for people. as google would have it, i emailed dr. darbari and received an email back from him within an hour. i couldn’t believe it!!!! it was like getting an email from a celebrity, you guys, seriously. i sat staring at my computer screen for a solid minute and a half before i could even collect myself to read his email. basically he told me that his people would be in touch with me…. i giggled reading this, thinking, “ohhh… his people will call my people…” anyway, i then contacted our friend’s friend at hopkins. she listened to my story for 45 minutes on the phone, then told me she would present jackson’s case to her feeding team on monday…. she just called and told me that they would take him on. paul and i are beside ourselves with joy and relief, knowing that jackson will be seen by the best in the country. these feeding teams consist of multiple people who work at either kennedy krieger or johns hopkins… the specialists on these teams include a gi specialist, a nutritionist, an occupational therapist, and a behavior therpist. the “friend of a friend” who basically got jackson in is the behavior therapist on dr. darbari’s team. soooo…. now we wait to hear when this eval with the feeding team at kennedy krieger will take place. in the meantime, i have TONS of medical records to fax to them to prep them on his case, and we have a meeting with our gi specialist here tomorrow to discuss possible surgery for a g tube. stay tuned!!!