dVH/RALH: My doctor say No to Da Vinci ?

Good evening ,
I was been diagnosed to have Multiple fibroid One is Fundal Fibroid measuring 8.1cm x 9.3 cm and the other one is anterior body fibroid measuring 3.7 x 4.5 cm - I been to couple of doctors and the first doctor suggest that I need to have hysterectomy but does not know the da vinci surgery procedure so I get a second opinion from a second doctor and she also suggested hysterectomy and recommend another doctor, but since I was hesitant to do hysterectomy I get a 3rd opinion, the 3rd doctor specialized in reproductive fertility and one of the leading fertility doctors here in my area. He suggest and explained that I need to have an egg donor in order to have a child, He told me that since I am 46 years old I have no chance of getting pregnant on my own. Now I needed to decide within two- three weeks whether myomectomy or hysterectomy, I choose to go hysterectomy since I don't want to carry another DNA with my age and would rather adopt., But my problem is he suggested that I need to undergo regular surgery which I responds to my doctor that I would like the Da Vinci surgery procedure. He said that I was tiny and my torso is small also my uterus fibroid is big and would be best for me to underwent regular surgery, he told me that he had been in practice for almost 30 years and done Da Vinci and regular surgeries - My boyfriend and I done a lot of research In Da Vinci and it seems the best way to go - BUT MY DOCTOR SAY NO. I am tired of getting another doctors opinion in my area because it takes a long time to schedule and also cost me a lot and make me more confuse. PLEASE HELP ME AM I CANDIDATE FOR DA VINCI ROBOTIC SURGERY?

It sounds like your fibroid is probably too big for da Vinci.

TAH is really not so bad. It leaves an ugly scar, but it's a very straightforward surgery. I'm 55 and I was about 90% recovered 6 weeks after.

HI,

Sounds like you have a lot going on and a lot of decisions! I imagine it's also very frustrating that the doctors aren't agreeing with your preferred course of treatment.

Some women with a large uterus and multiple fibroids are able to have their surgery via the Da Vinci Robot. I know it's a hassle to get another opinion, but if your heart is set on Da Vinci, it doesn't seem like you have a choice since you need to find a doctor who is confident in performing a DVH on you.

Only a doctor can tell you if a DVH is right for you or not. But I can tell you the other surgery options are not necessarily worse than a DVH or laparascopic surgery.

I was supposed to have a DVH but was changed to TAH on the table due to adhesions from my prior surgery. I was a little disappointed at first but quite frankly, I have had a really easy recovery - Easier than many women who have the DVH based on what I read on the threads here. I was 100% cleared at 4 weeks with no bleeding, no discharge, no issues. I have to remind myself anything even happened because I feel perfectly normal.

I'm not trying to talk you out of a DVH. I just thought it would be helpful to know that whatever happens, the other options can work out just as well or better in some cases.

I wish you luck! I hope you can find a doctor that is able to handle the surgery for you.

Emma, I'm sorry you are going through this.

Look to see if there is a surgeon that specializes in Minimally Invasive Gynecological Surgery in your area.

Good luck to you!

Emma

As you have heard already not everyone is a candidate for the davinci or laproscopic sugery of any type.

Factors are things like size of the uterus and size of the uterus in comparison to your body size. Now that being said as with all thing some surgeons are more skilled in certain techniques. So if you went for another opinion you might find someone who could do the surgery. Key things are that you have a surgeon skilled in whatever technique they are going to use and you are comfortable with them.

My gyn-oncologist told me to expect at least a 6 week initial recovery with davinci. He said that davinci patients are usually ahead in long-term healing for 6 months and after that it is equal to abdominal healing. I tell people that based on my experience and research that intial healing for surgery is 2/4 to 6/8 weeks and possibly longer if there is repair work or you are a slow healer. 6 to 12 months for full healing.

If you do go for another opinion make sure you ask these questions:

How many surgeries have you done with the davinci?
How did you train on the davince?
What is your conversion rate? This means how many times did they star laproscopically but switch to an abdominal surgery?
What were the reasosn for the conversion?
What is your complication rate?
What types of complications have you had?
In your case I would add How many surgeries have you done on small torso women with large fibroids and what was the outcome?

as yiu make your decisons.

Why do you say that da Vinci is the way to go?

I have a friend who had a similar condition to you. She is small and had a large fibroid 4+ inches. She had to have an abdominal hysterectomy because of the size. She was back to work in 2 1/2 weeks. She does have a high pain tolerance, so that helped.

With da Vinci and other laparascopic surgeries, only small incisions are made. The fibroid and other parts have to be removed through these incisions or through the vagina. As large as your fibroid is, the da Vinci may not be for you because of the possible difficulty in removing it, which is also what you say your doctors have told you. If you've been to several doctors and they keep telling you that da Vinci is not for you, you should probably listen to them. The da Vinci isn't a miracle, it's just another way to do surgery for some. A woman can recover quickly or slowly with any of the types of surgeries. Most recovery depends on your condition, what needs to be done during surgery, your pain tolerance, healing capability, and whether or not you have additional complications.

Good luck and best wishes for whatever you decide!

Thank you for all the reply to my post. I hope It's easy to decide on what procedure to go., just to think about surgery to my body.. It's really not easy, on top of that - I will not have a child on my own ever.