When hairstylist Carol Sibley-Weaver confronted a second bout with most cancers, minimally invasive robotic surgical procedure helped her make a quicker restoration. (Chris Clark | Well being Beat)
Working as a hairstylist in Muskegon, Michigan, Sibley-Weaver needed to keep away from taking a lot day without work. She enjoys her craft, so she had no need to hold up her scissors for very lengthy. (Chris Clark | Well being Beat)
Sibley-Weaver met with Charles Willekes, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Corewell Well being in Grand Rapids.
A CT scan confirmed a mass in her proper lung. (Chris Clark | Well being Beat)
Dr. Willekes is one among three surgeons at Corewell Well being who carry out robotic surgical procedure utilizing the da Vinci SP. The staff has carried out greater than 20,000 surgical procedures utilizing robotic expertise. (Chris Clark | Well being Beat)
“I reside alone with my canines since my husband handed away, and I can’t afford to take six to 10 weeks off to get better from surgical procedure,” Sibley-Weaver stated. (Courtesy picture | Carol Sibley-Weaver)
“I’m additionally a diabetic, so it was vital to scale back dangers from surgical procedure,” Sibley-Weaver stated. “This type of surgical procedure minimize my day without work from work in half, to a few weeks.” (Chris Clark | Well being Beat)
“I had solely three small incisions: two for the surgical procedure and one for a chest tube,” Sibley-Weaver stated. “And I used to be in restoration for about an hour and a half, and again to work in three weeks.” (Chris Clark | Well being Beat)
“I do nonetheless really feel some minor ache and numbness within the space, however it felt nice to get again to work and again to hanging out with my mates and having a beer collectively,” Sibley-Weaver stated. (Chris Clark | Well being Beat)
To see Carol Sibley-Weaver smiling and sitting comfortably between her two massive canines, you’d by no means guess she lately underwent main surgical procedure for most cancers.
“It was the second time I had been recognized with most cancers,” Sibley-Weaver, 58, stated. “I had endometrial most cancers in 2019 and I had a full hysterectomy for that. But it surely had traveled to my proper lung and I wanted surgical procedure once more.”
Working as a hairstylist in Muskegon, Michigan, she needed to keep away from taking a lot day without work. She enjoys her craft, so she had no need to hold up her scissors for very lengthy.
She additionally needed to ensure Gus, her Nice Dane, and Lily, her chocolate lab, had been cared for.
“I reside alone with my canines since my husband handed away, and I can’t afford to take six to 10 weeks off to get better from surgical procedure,” Sibley-Weaver stated. “I had heard about robotic surgery and that it takes a a lot shorter restoration time.”
In April 2022, she met with Charles Willekes, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Corewell Health in Grand Rapids.
“She was in any other case wholesome and feeling positive, however a CT scan confirmed a mass in her proper lung,” Dr. Willekes stated.
She was recognized with adenocarcinoma, a kind of most cancers in her lung.
“There’s a threat for anybody who has had most cancers prior to now that it may unfold by means of the blood,” Dr. Willekes stated. “Whether it is remoted, as hers was, then we will take it out.”
Dr. Willekes is one among three surgeons at Corewell Well being who carry out robotic surgical procedure utilizing the da Vinci SP. The staff at Corewell Well being has carried out greater than 20,000 surgical procedures utilizing robotic expertise since 2006—essentially the most robot-assisted surgical procedures in West Michigan.
“Between the three of us, we every do 4 to 5 robotic surgical procedures every week,” Dr. Willekes stated. “About 85 p.c of lung surgical procedures right here are actually achieved robotically.”
The explanations are many, he stated.
The surgical procedure is far much less invasive, requiring solely small incisions, versus opening the chest and spreading the rib cage. Which means surgical procedure takes a lot much less time and there’s much less blood loss. It ends in much less ache, too, and results in quicker restoration instances.
“The affected person has a a lot shorter hospital keep and might get again residence or to work rapidly,” Dr. Willekes stated.
“And that was vital to me,” Sibley-Weaver stated. “I’m additionally a diabetic, so it was vital to scale back dangers from surgical procedure. This type of surgical procedure minimize my day without work from work in half, to a few weeks.”
Much less threat, quicker restoration
Sibley-Weaver checked into the Fred and Lena Meijer Heart Center on Might 4. She underwent a robotic lobectomy, through which docs eliminated the correct decrease lobe of her lung.
The surgical procedure took about 90 minutes.
“I had solely three small incisions: two for the surgical procedure and one for a chest tube,” Sibley-Weaver stated. “And I used to be in restoration for about an hour and a half, and again to work in three weeks.”
She’ll bear CT scans of her lungs each three months within the first yr following surgical procedure, then each six months till she reaches the five-year mark.
However right now, she’s again to doing what she loves.
“I do nonetheless really feel some minor ache and numbness within the space, however it felt nice to get again to work and again to hanging out with my mates and having a beer collectively,” she stated. “I’ve been a hairstylist for 38 years and I really like what I do.”
After robot-assisted surgical procedure, Sibley-Weaver required no follow-up therapies, chemotherapy or radiation, Dr. Willekes stated.
“We had pathology studies achieved in the course of the surgical procedure to make sure we had the most cancers all eliminated,” he stated. “Carol received’t want something greater than the CT scans.”
Sibley-Weaver stated she’s grateful the most cancers was recognized after which handled with a minimally invasive process.
“I might by no means have identified I had this in my lung if (docs) hadn’t saved checking on me,” she stated. “With my first most cancers in 2019, I had felt sick, my hemoglobin was low and I felt weak. This time, I felt positive. I had no concept.
“It was definitely worth the longer drive from Muskegon to Grand Rapids to have this sort of robotic surgical procedure,” she stated.
