Espresso Christina: Hospital Stay at CHOP

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Blog

I recently stayed as a patient at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for a clinical trial to benefit the research and studies to help find a cure for the rare disease I have been faced with- Friedreich’s Ataxia. In a short version, Friedreich’s Ataxia or FA, is a debilitating, life-shortening, degenerative neuro-muscular disorder. About one in 50,000 people in the United States have Friedreich’s Ataxia. FARA is the research alliance group that conducts these clinical trials.

My doctor is a brilliant, individual based out of CHOP at UPenn. I am so fortunate to be local to the Philadelphia area because he is the “go to” person. With this disease being so rare (15,000 people worldwide), it is important to be connected and up to date with the news on any research because things are changing daily.

During my clinical trial, I was required to stay in the hospital for three days. Dr. Lynch is an easy-going person that loves to connect with his patients. Since he knows that I write for a food blog, he asked if I could write a food blog on the hospital stay! He even added to make suggestions if any! So here you go :)

I mostly had to be in my room throughout my stay because of testing and all, so my mom and I ordered “room service” for all our meals except for before I was omitted and the last night of our stay.

Before I checked-in to the hospital, I was allowed to have one last meal out. So my mom and I went to Gia Prontos, which is right across the hospital. Gia Prontos is a café that serves of variety of salads, pizza, paninis and café items. My mom and I each got a slice of artisan pizza and it was out of this world! Then afterwards we got a treat at Ben & Jerry’s :)

The “room service” selection of my stay was not so bad! The food always arrived in a timely manner and the quality and quantity of food was just right! I have to say my favorite meals were the breakfast portions! I loved the banana pancakes and omelet with the potato stars (hash browns)!

The presentation of the food and menu was adorable! Since, I was at a children’s hospital, everything was very cute and fun to entertain the kids! The menu was very feasible to order from and adorable with all the pictures and drawings of cartoons. The only issue I have is that almost every time my mom and I ordered food, an item was missing in our order.

Every day to get a change of scenery, we went downstairs to the café to get our afternoon pick-me-up. Or, we would go to the Library for some coffee, tea and afternoon snack.

All my mom and I feel like we’ve done this hospital stay is eat! We were overall satisfied with the hospital food, but by the fourth day we were running out options!