The Acid Reflux Moms Meet

Jan: I felt like Entertainment Tonight or Matt Lauer should have been there when Brandi and I had our first face to face meeting. This was a momentous event! We had been talking by phone about our kids with acid reflux for two years and we were actually meeting for the first time. Since she lives in South Carolina and I live in Maryland, we weren't sure if we would actually have an opportunity to meet. The only reason Brandi came to Maryland was because of acid reflux. Her son, Noah, had to see a specialist, requiring a two-day road trip with two children under the age of 3 with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). She packed the car with medicine, food, feeding supplies for Noah's feeding tube and all the other "things" parents need for a week on the road.

Brandi: My husband Chad packed up this time and did a great job. I tend to over pack but he packed just the right amount. We stayed in a suite type hotel with a small kitchen and extra sink for preparing formula and washing syringes. Luckily, the hotel was able to give us two cribs. I always bring a portable DVD player for the car and the hotel room. I find that some hotels have limited children's TV options and the DVD player helped pass the time in the hotel room. You wouldn't believe the medication we need to take. I just pack EVERYTHING.

Jan: In the past, before the internet, parents often formed support groups so they could meet and talk. It was often necessary to drive a distance to a meeting and finding childcare for a sick baby was a constant challenge. Now, parents can meet and network with other parents across the globe by phone and the internet.

Brandi and I started talking a few years ago. Soon we were talking daily, weekly or monthly, depending on the ups and downs of her son's treatment. I sometimes talked to Brandi while I was in the carpool lane and she often talked while driving to a medical appointment until she arrived at the parking garage at the hospital and we knew the cell phone signal would quit. I even talked to Brandi in the Denver airport on my way to a meeting and while on vacation in Niagara Falls!

Brandi: When Noah was at his sickest point I was desperate for someone to talk to me who had been through the surgery for acid reflux. I was desperate to hear from another mom who had a child with life threatening complications from acid reflux. My doctors had made Noah sound so rare and uncommon. I was scared for my child's life and for the decisions I was about to have to make concerning Noah's life, my precious little baby. In the day of the internet, I sat down nightly and was all consumed trying to find other mothers who had children like Noah. I found similar children, but none exactly like Noah. Lesson number 1: every child is different! But, one day I found the Pediatric Adolescent Gastroesophageal Reflux Association (PAGER), a parent support organization, and asked to be linked to a trained parent volunteer. I wanted to talk to a person, not just e-mail another parent. I had no idea that Jan Gambino would turn into a huge mentor and, most of all, a huge friend. I certainly didn't think I'd get to meet her. I feel like I've learned a lot over the past two years, some from her, some from other resources and from my own experience. I know Jan has learned a few things from me as well. I am a seasoned mother of special needs children at this point. But, that being said, there is never a time when I talk to Jan that I don't learn something new.