Catching Up
It's been months since I've posted. It's been a busy and difficult time. My wife was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect called Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) which is a hole between the two upper chambers of the heart that had been there all her life. While this can sometimes be repaired via a catheter through a vein in the leg, my wife's defect was too large and required surgery.
Here in Eugene the standard procedure for such a repair is what's called a sternotomy - the usual long incision up the middle of the chest, with the sternum getting sawn in half so the rib cage can be opened to access the heart. This is a traumatic ordeal with a long recovery time including extreme limits on activity for many weeks. Plus of course the prominent scar that is visible wearing just about anything more revealing than a turtleneck.
We learned about a surgeon in Spokane, Washington, Leland Siwek, who performs heart surgery robotically using the DaVinci surgical robot. At first my wife's cardiologist was a bit skeptical of going to Spokane for cutting-edge heart surgery and suggested we look into prestigeous institutions such as the Mayo Clinic or the Cleveland Clinic if she wished to pursue a robotic approach. However, I then did some research on this surgeon and it turns out he is world famous, a pioneer in the field of robotic heart surgery, and had even been recruited by the Cleveland Clinic and other major medical centers.
We were convinced, and made the arrangements. Dr. Siwek operated on my wife at the end of August. Instead of a 10-inch incision down the middle of her chest and a wired-shut ribcage, she had 4 small incisions under her right arm and no broken or severed bones. The surgery was a complete success. She was discharged from the hospital 2 days after the surgery.
It was our first time in Spokane. It's a lovely city. The hospital staff was excellent at all levels, doctors, nurses, assistants - all kind, professional, competent, caring, and patient. We could not have asked for a better experience. We are enormously grateful to have found this alternative to the trauma of standard open heart surgery.
I normally do not write about such personal matters on my blog but I wanted to put our story out there for the benefit of others who may be researching their options for ASD repair. I spent a lot of time researching on the internet to figure out all of our options and it was not always easy to find information about individuals' experiences. Even as we made the 8-hour drive to Spokane, we wondered if we were doing the right thing. We're so glad we did. Dr. Siwek is a top notch, world class surgeon who we would recommend without hesitation.
Here in Eugene the standard procedure for such a repair is what's called a sternotomy - the usual long incision up the middle of the chest, with the sternum getting sawn in half so the rib cage can be opened to access the heart. This is a traumatic ordeal with a long recovery time including extreme limits on activity for many weeks. Plus of course the prominent scar that is visible wearing just about anything more revealing than a turtleneck.
We learned about a surgeon in Spokane, Washington, Leland Siwek, who performs heart surgery robotically using the DaVinci surgical robot. At first my wife's cardiologist was a bit skeptical of going to Spokane for cutting-edge heart surgery and suggested we look into prestigeous institutions such as the Mayo Clinic or the Cleveland Clinic if she wished to pursue a robotic approach. However, I then did some research on this surgeon and it turns out he is world famous, a pioneer in the field of robotic heart surgery, and had even been recruited by the Cleveland Clinic and other major medical centers.
We were convinced, and made the arrangements. Dr. Siwek operated on my wife at the end of August. Instead of a 10-inch incision down the middle of her chest and a wired-shut ribcage, she had 4 small incisions under her right arm and no broken or severed bones. The surgery was a complete success. She was discharged from the hospital 2 days after the surgery.
It was our first time in Spokane. It's a lovely city. The hospital staff was excellent at all levels, doctors, nurses, assistants - all kind, professional, competent, caring, and patient. We could not have asked for a better experience. We are enormously grateful to have found this alternative to the trauma of standard open heart surgery.
I normally do not write about such personal matters on my blog but I wanted to put our story out there for the benefit of others who may be researching their options for ASD repair. I spent a lot of time researching on the internet to figure out all of our options and it was not always easy to find information about individuals' experiences. Even as we made the 8-hour drive to Spokane, we wondered if we were doing the right thing. We're so glad we did. Dr. Siwek is a top notch, world class surgeon who we would recommend without hesitation.
