Tammi may have her surgery done using the da Vinci robot. Her surgeon specializes in this type of surgery. Beverly, Tammi’s sister-in-law and RN, has actually seen it in person. Here are her thoughts:
I am familiar with the da Vinci robot. Henry Ford Hospital pioneered its use for prostate surgery, and they taught many surgeons from all over the world to use it. Now there are many other applications and I think it is great. The surgeon doesn’t even stand by the patient, he sits at the daVinci and does it by “camera”.
The beauty of it is the quick recovery because, while it is invasive, there is so much less cutting to get to the problem. Laparoscopic surgery has been around for awhile, but this is a great advancement. I think it allows for microsurgery, though don’t quote me on that. The surgeon operates the robot and the magnification is huge, so it allows for very precise work.
When the new Henry Ford Hospital opened in 2009, I went to the open house which included the fantastic new OR’s. I actually saw the daVinci and I think I operated it on a dummy something they had set up. It’s pretty cool.
There are lots of cool images and videos found on the web, including one where a doctor uses the robot to peel a grape! This one is my favorite, although the music is annoying. I’d turn the volume down first…
Thanks so much for posting this info, Beth. We’ve been learning so much about this new method of surgery & kind of hoping I will qualify for it. Dr. Everette apparently has quite a background in DaVinci surgery. 4 more chemos to go, then a few weeks of ‘recovery’. Sometime in April I expect they’ll order a new CT scan of me and then we’ll see what’s been going on inside and what they recommend doing next.