Tiny Instruments, Big Benefits
Minimally Invasive Surgery Frees
One Patient from Discomfort
That's because, like her mother and six of her aunts, she had a condition called uterine fibroids. These are noncancerous tumors in the uterus, and they made her monthly menstrual cycles debilitating. She wasn't able to have fun with her friends or even go to school regularly. The heavy bleeding was taking a tremendous toll on her life, and it only got worse as she got older.
"By the time I reached my 20s, I had to lie in bed for two to three days during my menstrual cycle," she recalled. "I couldn't control the bleeding and, honestly, I couldn't function. I had to schedule everything around my periods. I became anemic and needed two blood transfusions."
Sherisa underwent surgery at Centennial Hills Hospital in May 2008. By that time, she had nine fibroids, some as big as grapefruits. She was worried at first, because she'd heard stories about how painful a hysterectomy could be.
"My aunt told me to buy a recliner. She said I'd be in so much pain that I wouldn't be able to lie down in bed for weeks," she said.
As it turned out, she didn't need that recliner. "I wasn't sore at all," she said.
Her doctor had referred her to Centennial Hills Hospital Chief of Staff Warren Volker, MD, a gynecologist at the hospital's new Minimally Invasive Surgical Center. Surgeons now perform minimally invasive gynecological, urological, orthopedic and general surgery procedures in the Center's specially designed surgical suites.
Open surgery would have required a large incision. Dr. Volker made only three small ones to perform a laparoscopic hysterectomy.
"My doctor made all the difference in the world. Dr. Volker was professional and comforting," Sherisa said. "It's been absolutely wonderful -- a feeling of freedom for me."
