Baby boomers are living a digital life. It came home for my family as we prepare for a loved one to undergo robotic surgery on a malignant tumor. With a cancer diagnosis the world turns on its axis. Things get scary, fast. Decisions to make. Information, sometimes indecipherable, floods. We made a medical decision to save a life and it's all wrapped up in 21st Century technology.
There are two or three ways to perform removal of a prostate gland that has cancer. One is laparoscopic prostate surgery which involves 5 small abdominal incisions, they tell me. The drawback to this one, though it's a good option for some, is that it's less likely to "see" or to allow the surgeon to see all the particles of cancer and remove them.
Then there's open prostate surgery - the traditional kind where a surgeon makes a sizable incision and manually retrieves the parts that are ill. Some problems here, they tell us. Not always effective. Tends to produce a lot of scarring. Slow healing. Tendency for tumor to reoccur.
Then, say the urologists, there's robotic prostate surgery. Ten years ago - there wasn't. It didnt exist in the normal course of medical treatment. Six incisions less than an inch each. Well, said the urologist. five under an inch. One a bit bigger so they can take the gland out through that one. (didn't I say it was scary stuff?)
With robotic surgery, patient goes home next day. Back to work in about a week. Far less liklihood of unpleasant side effects. Much more likley to "get it all" as they say. We were told to make sure the surgeon has done at least 300 procedures with robotics and has the process down to under three hours. We chose the robot -DaVinci, it's called.
You can search YouTube for videos of these surgeries - my husband has watched them - I have elected to not. Best advice if you are faced with this issue. Learn everything you can. Get a second opinion - maybe a third. Act quickly.
After March 17, I'll update you on how this digital miracle works in real life. If you know anything aobut this topic - do chime in.
UPDATE - I heard a story on local news last night saying care must be taken before surgery is the answer. The piece said many men diagnosed with prostate cancer may never experience tumor growth and should not have surgery. I am unable to track down the source or the exact quote so ask your doctors.
Print | posted @ Friday, March 06, 2009 8:48 AM