Dr. Robert Edward Kelly JR., MD

Where do I begin? From the initial inquiry with the NUSS Center it has been professional, compassionate, and efficient. We flew in for an initial consultation with Dr. Kelly and he took his time explaining the complexity of my son's deformity (we'd seen two other surgeons before and neither gave us such detail). His bedside manner is wonderful with children and he was very patient with me, as I asked him a slew of questions. My son and I walked out of his office 100% confident that we were in the best hands possible for this procedure. His nurse and schedule coordinator was in contact with me answering all of my questions (and I had lots!) and was able to schedule us 6 weeks later. We flew in 5 days before the procedure to get all the appropriate pre-op requirements done. We met with Dr. Kelly again to go over every detail right down to where my son wanted his scar (vertical or horizontal). They put me in touch with the hospital social worker who secured a room at the Ronald… McDonald house across the street for the week following his surgery. We'd have happily stayed at an AirBnB, but there's nothing within walking distance to hospital. Turns out that the R.McD. house was a home away from home, it was updated, clean, friendly, and most importantly quiet. The day of surgery everything went smooth from patient registration to pre-surgery procedures and the surgery itself. I found all of the staff to be caring and compassionate during every interaction, which is impressive in this day and age! The surgery was 5 hours long (he had a difficult case) and every hour the OR nurse would call into the waiting room to give me updates. I found it very helpful and reassuring that all was going as planned in the OR. After the surgery Dr. Kelly brought me to a private consult room to discuss the details of the procedure and explained what the next 48 hours would be like for my son. The recovery staff was great, he was there a while because of length of surgery. Eventually we got to his private room in a specific area of the pediatric ward. I liked that all the Pectus patients go to this area because the nurses in the unit are specifically trained on how to take care of these patients. All and I mean all of the nurses were wonderful, they were friendly, gave suggestions, listened and answered questions, and most importantly were very compassionate with my son. The food and nutrition staff were great as were the orderlies. My son is almost two weeks post op and we've been home for a week and he's doing great. Of course he's managing his pain with medication and I've followed their detailed instructions to the letter. I did invest in a wedge pillow for his bed at home and would highly recommend it. The surgery was a huge success and the before and after photos are remarkable (and he's still swollen). Dr. Kelly said four weeks post-op will be more telling with the reduction. I did a tremendous amount of research on this surgery, on the NUSS Center, and Dr. Kelly and know we got the best surgery with the best surgeon he could get in the USA. A side note, I've spent my entire professional career working in both community and teaching hospitals with almost every speciality and in most units so I am VERY picky about physicians and patient care! This surgical team and nursing team were simply the best!

Dr Kelly was our first choice after researching surgeons. My daughter had severe asymmetrical Pectus Excavatum with a Haler index of 9.7! We made the6 hour drive to Norfolk and I’m glad we did. Today I ask her on a scale of 1-10 how would she rate Dr Kelly? She said a 25, he changed my life. Dr Kelly will do my sons surgery this summer.

Dr. Kelly seems to really care about his patients. He spends time explaining the procedure and talks to the child not just the parents. Very good communication during the surgery and after. He even checks on his patients in the hospital on his days off. Dr. Kelly is located in Norfolk and we were recommended to him by our pediatrician in Florida.