I went to Boston on Thursday to check out a surgeon at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. He specializes in colorectal surgeries. Other than waiting an hour to see him, the appointment went very well.
He is very friendly and sociable. He read through my thick files and came to the conclusion that he wouldn't have done anything different than what my surgeon here did. That was reassuring to hear. He was able to explain everything I already had done in a way I could better understand.
There was not one thing that he would have done differently to repair the fistula. If I decided to go to him for the next surgery, he explained how he would do it. Or how the plastic surgeon would do it.
He would do a gracilis flap which requires a plastic surgeon to pretty much do the whole surgery. This is where they take muscle from my upper leg and stick it between my anus and vagina to heal the fistula that way. He did an exam on me and felt where the fistula was and agreed that it is pretty small.
He said that the plastic surgeons do one of these surgeries at least once a week if not more. They mostly do it for people who have colon cancer, but it is the same procedure.
He stated that this surgery was about 75% chance that it would work and heal the fistula. If for some reason it didn't work then they could possibly try again later on or I would have to consider having the ileostomy permanent. Not that I want to think about that right now, but it was good to hear all the options and possibilities.
There are some risks associated with doing a gracilis flap, as there is to any surgery. It is worth the risks for me. Now I meet with my surgeon here on Tuesday to see what his take on everything is and what he would do for a Plan B. I will mention what the surgeon in Boston said and figure out how many of these surgeries the plastic surgeons here do. That might be the answer to where I have my next surgery. I would ideally like to stay local but going to Boston is definitely something to consider.
No comments:
Post a Comment