Cristina’s Health Journey

Cristina’s Health Journey This page is for awareness and for those who would like to follow Cristina's journey with Childhood Pancreatitis.

Cristina is now out of surgery and is home recovering. She had a bit of a hard time coming out of the anesthesia. She wa...
04/30/2026

Cristina is now out of surgery and is home recovering. She had a bit of a hard time coming out of the anesthesia. She was super dizzy for a few hours and super tired. We expected her to be tired though due to lack of sleep last night. Cristina has been super fatigued in general for months so we knew after battling high blood sugars last night she would be tired today. In the last few months it’s been pretty common with her wanting to sleep 12+ hours. The fatigue is just intense regardless of sleep but when she has issues sleeping it tends to make the fatigue 10x worse. After she was past the dizziness, we were discharged home.

Overall nothing scary looking and everything looks relatively benign. They took at least 11 areas of biopsies and biopsied a polyp she had in her stomach. This procedure was just to get a look at her past surgical areas and see how her autoimmune disease could be impacting it. For now, we wait for pathology results to have an idea of what kind of damage we are dealing with and to document the baseline for healing process.

Thank you for all the continued love, support and prayers. We really appreciate each and everyone of them and you!

It never gets any easier as a medically complex parent handing your child over to the surgery team. Cristina’s currently...
04/30/2026

It never gets any easier as a medically complex parent handing your child over to the surgery team. Cristina’s currently in the OR as they do biopsies and get a look at some of the old areas she had her surgery on that maybe having issues due to a recently diagnosed autoimmune condition. Today is not an easy day but Cristina is facing as she does everything with a smile. Shout out to for always being by her side and giving her joy. Tubby even got to take a ride with her into the OR room. ❤️

04/14/2026

Back in April 2023 we got Cristina her first Rhea Ripley shirt as a gift for all she went through having her pancreas, spleen, gallbladder, appendix, and duodenum removed with her TPIAT. She has always looked up to Rhea as she is a strong woman and has just been an inspiration for Cristina. Cristina has always said Rhea is a fighter and doesn’t let anything stop her. Cristina would push through some of the hardest times in her recovery and would say that she could do anything even be Women’s World Champion one day just like Rhea. Fast forward a year we briefly spoke with her on FaceTime during Cristina’s Make-A-Wish reveal in 2024 to go to WrestleMania 40. While we thanked her then, I hope we could thank her in person one day. I would thank her for being an inspiration to Cristina for when she has had some of her toughest days, she’s had someone to look up to, to push through.

Today we saw Cristina’s local GI. We last saw him back in January 2023 just a few weeks before her TPIAT. We have had mo...
04/07/2026

Today we saw Cristina’s local GI. We last saw him back in January 2023 just a few weeks before her TPIAT. We have had most of Cristina’s GI care done through CCHMC but after her recent visit unfortunately some tests came back extremely off and in the weeks since we had to scramble getting her seen locally as soon as we got back. Due to her history, concerns and test results they were able to get us in a lot earlier than expected.

Cristina will unfortunately have to have biopsies of her intestines taken in a few weeks. It’s very stressful knowing she has to undergo anesthesia again. Undergoing anesthesia is hard on any kid but on a kid that has had many medical procedures over the years it’s extremely difficult. Cristina even has anxiety using a mask when she uses an inhaler because it’s similar to the mask they use to put someone under anesthesia.

We are incredibly grateful that she is back in the hands of the surgeon who did her stent placement in 2022 and who saw her through the last tough months of pancreatitis. Today when he saw us he shook our hands and assured us he will take care of her as he always has and he also gave her a hug and congratulated her. He was so happy that despite new health issues currently that she made it through her TPIAT and is living a pain-free life. He was so happy to see how far she’s come.

While we aren’t going to state what Cristina has been diagnosed with at this time, we will at least say that the diagnosis is lifelong, is manageable and Cristina will have relief after years of unexplained symptoms. It’s just a lot for all of us as a family to process at this time. We went to Cincinnati with literally 2 very minor concerns and left with a lifelong diagnosis. We will share at a later date but for now we want to get through the next few weeks as we process everything and help Cristina adjust.

03/30/2026

We tried to make the best of Cristina’s 3 years post op trip to Cincinnati. We even ended the trip with a surprise impromptu visit to the beach. You would think as a Floridian Cristina has been to the beach but fun fact, this was her very first Floridian beach experience. ❤️

03/23/2026

At her 3 hour test last week Cristina was playing with a hand puppet she had gotten at the gift shop. She was laughing so hard that the puppet was moving in time with her laugh. We were calling it the Mr. Krabs laugh because it reminded us of him from SpongeBob 😂

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03/22/2026

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03/18/2026

Can you tell she’s a Floridian? Lol 😂 Poor Olaf. Cristina has been enjoying seeing the snow while here in Cincinnati for her 3 year post TPIAT appts. It has snowed every day on and off since we have been here. So glad she got her wish for snow.

03/16/2026

The first thing Cristina asked when we scheduled her 3 year post TPIAT appts was will it snow. I was doubtful as it’s mid-March. She remained hopeful and said she would wish for it to snow. We are in Cincinnati for her appts and welp…she got her wish! She said she wanted to thank Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Ronald McDonald House Charities Greater Cincinnati for granting her wish. As Floridians this is something we don’t get to see. It makes these appointments that much more special. ❄️⛄️

It’s been awhile since posting but it’s just been hectic mostly in a good way! Cristina started off the year unfortunate...
03/07/2026

It’s been awhile since posting but it’s just been hectic mostly in a good way! Cristina started off the year unfortunately with 3 ER visits but thankfully no stays. Once she got over her illness she was back doing her Taekwondo. She is now on the Black Belt team after receiving an invitation to join and will have an opportunity to receive mentorship over the next two years on her path to becoming a black belt. Even when diabetes tries to get in the way of training at times she doesn’t let it stop her. In fact, her instructors and us as parents sometimes have to remind her to stop so we can treat a low blood sugar. She is just so determined and strong! We have her 3 year post transplant visits coming up in Cincinnati soon and we can’t wait to see how excited the doctors will be with her progress. This little one has dreams and she is determined as ever to make them a reality. ❤️ Also Cristina wanted everyone to hear Trick Williams song because she says it’s great music to jam to. She said it gets you motivated.

12/06/2025

You’ll find Cristina’s diabetic service dog in training next to her. They have such a special bond. We can’t wait to have him home full time. He has been such a blessing already. One day he will be saving her one alert at a time ❤️

Cristina started showing signs of being sick on Friday and while we were hopeful we could avoid a hospital visit, unfort...
11/10/2025

Cristina started showing signs of being sick on Friday and while we were hopeful we could avoid a hospital visit, unfortunately today her body had other plans. Little one spiked a fever and has lost hearing in her left ear. Because she no longer has a spleen as a result of her TPIAT, she is at risk of sepsis so anytime she has a fever at or above 100.4 she has to present to the hospital for blood cultures, IV antibiotics and the works basically. Turns out she has another cold and a double ear infection. She has to be on antibiotics at least until we get blood cultures back but possibly longer since they are worried about her developing pneumonia. She didn’t have any signs on the X-ray but her white blood count is pretty high and they are concerned given her history. She at least is in relatively good spirits she just wants to get back to Taekwondo since she will be out a few days and doesn’t want to miss it. At least we are able to come home and follow up with the pediatrician and Cincinnati tomorrow. And through it all she’s still smiling ❤️

Address

3001 W Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Tampa, FL
33607

Website

https://linktr.ee/cristinahealthjourney

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