Friday, March 27, 2009

Fast Forward? A New Surgeon

The wait has been killing me. No doubt I mentioned this before, but Dr. Duh can't even see us till 3 weeks from today and who knows how long after that till he has time for the actual surgery. When I spoke to his office weeks ago they said he was scheduling surgeries in June. Does that mean by the time we see him and are allowed to schedule he won't have openings till July? August?

The night before last Alex was literally crying herself to sleep. I hate that I can't do anything, it is so frustrating as a mom to watch your child in pain (and depressed) and not be able to do anything but tell them to wait it out. Anyway, I had a talk with God that night and told him I didn't think I could do this much longer and needed some divine intervention. When I woke up the next morning (yesterday) I was feeling inspired to do something about it and I sent a quick email to Stanford University asking if they had anyone with experience in laparascopic BLA. A surgeon, Dr. Visser, called me within hours and left a message, and also replied to the email saying he would get in touch.

Last night he called, with apologies for not getting hold of me sooner! Okay, I love this guy already! He is young and not an endocrine surgeon, but those are both things I can live with. He says he does an adrenalectomy every other week and has about 50 under his belt. He did explain that he is young and has done fewer (obviously) than the surgeons who have been doing it for decades. He trained at UCSF and considers Dr. Duh a mentor. He has extensive skills in laparascopic surgery and has never had to convert a lap surgery to an open surgery. The really exciting part? We now have an appointment to see him a week from today! He says he will get Alex in for surgery quickly after that if we are interested. Most of his patients are cancer patients and don't have the luxury of waiting, so he gets them in quickly.

So, for today it feels like my prayers were answered. I think Alex and I were both a bit shell shocked last night. It seems scary now that surgery might be a reality in the near future.

4 comments:

  1. Oh, Rene! I'm so happy!! This is great news!! I hope that you find comfort in this surgeon and that he can get the surgery scheduled quickly!!

    Hugs (give some to Alex too!)
    -Jess

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  2. Thank you! Same back to you! You and Alex are leading parallel lives.

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  3. I hope this news helps to cheer up Alex.

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  4. I think it does, but the "unknown" is a little scary.

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