Dr. Robert Koch
316 Eisenhower Parkway
Livingston, NJ 07039
973-716-9600
On the morning of April 21st, 2004 Sue woke up with severe abdominal pain. We headed straight to the Saint Barnabas Hospital in Livingston. It was a long drive because we had recently moved and we did not wish to change doctors mid pregnancy. We both always liked Dr Koch and decided the extra distance was worth it to keep him on the case.
After some blood work, an emergency cesarean was indicated. While Sue was being prepped for the operation, Dr Anthony Quartell (practices with Dr Koch at the above address) told me that my wife's condition was quite serious. He explained that there were complications that only a few hospitals in New Jersey could have handled and that we were lucky enough to be at one of them.
When he saw the look on my face he immediately said, "The kids will be fine".
My first thought was: "The kids? Thank God but what about Sue?"
That's when I realized just how much danger she was in, if she wasn't, he would have said, "Your wife and the kids will be fine".
The only thing that kept me from going into spontaneous cardiac arrest was the realization that if I did, Dr. Quartell would probably try to revive me, and that would be one less doctor working on my wife, so I managed to maintain my composure, at least on the surface.
After the scariest 15 minutes of my life, I was called in to the operating room to witness the birth of my two beautiful children, Ben & Sarah, 5 lbs 1 oz & 5 lbs 4 oz. I held my lovely wife's hand, scared to death for her. I made sure she didn't see my face, because if she did she would have known what I knew, which at that moment was the last thing she needed to know.
Sue spent the next 2 days under close observation by Dr Koch until she was out of danger.
As it turns out, Sue had HELLP syndrome; a rare complication which would have caused her to hemorrhage and bleed to death internally within hours.
Thank God for Dr Koch and Dr Quartell!!!
Working together, they gave us the ultimate happy ending and we are forever in their debt.
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