Some of the people who have helped me
Many people come to mind when I think of those who have helped me to discover, understand and explore infant pyloric stenosis during the past 20 or so years. All since 1997 when I first gained access to the internet. It is sadly impossible to recall, let alone acknowledge them all.
Here I mention just some of them briefly… and in alphabetical order.
In November 1987 the US doctors and researchers Kanwaljeet J S (“Sunny”) Anand (now Professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine) and P R Hickey published a study report in The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine entitled, “Neonatal pain and its effects.” They comprehensively disproved the centuries-old belief that babies do not feel nor remember pain, nor are they affected by it.
As a result the medical protocols governing infant surgery have been progressively altered worldwide.
Dr Louis Tinnin (1932-2014) and his wife Dr Lynda Gantt were among the first to bring to prominence the possibility and availability of counsel and therapies to manage the long-term trauma that could result from infant surgical procedures (incl. circumcision) without pain relief.
It was widely believed (without evidence) that infants like fish do not feel or remember pain. This US couple worked as a psychiatrists and psychotherapists for over 50 years and set up two trauma clinics to address the damage done by infant surgery without anesthesia.
Dr Tinnin wrote a blog which cited some of the key indicators of trauma which cannot be consciously remembered, and it drew a large response.
Dr Ian M Rogers (1943-), a British surgeon, researched and published his work on the cause of infant pyloric stenosis. His theory is based on finding that PS in puppies can be caused by injecting them with high doses of gastrin, a blood hormone that controls the stomach’s gastric acid release and thus the processing of food. The digestion of dogs and humans is similar in this regard. Despite the relative lack of interest from the pediatric medicine community (which seems to prefer more arcane lines of study and explanation), Dr Rogers has continued to publish and promote his very straightforward theory that fully explains all the well-known characteristics of IHPS. He has also encouraged and instructed Wendy Williams and me which has also been most valuable.
Dr Rogers’ medical journal articles and books are directed at the medical world and priced accordingly, but the article at the link is indicative of his theory.
A 2016 journal article that sets forth Dr Rogers’ work very clearly and concisely recently reappeared online and may be freely downloaded.
Ms Wendy P Willliams (1952-) is an American teacher and poet who had infant surgery for PS without pain control, with lifelong psycho-social effects. She has blogged and regularly interacted with me since 2009. Wendy has recently written a book about her life experiences resulting from her early surgery, and the therapies that have helped her.
Living in a large country, and being more active and less restricted than I have been she has spoken, sought out therapies, conferences and symposiums, and found much help from a list of professional therapists and books.
Stories from the Survivors of early Surgery 