Well folks, I thought I would report in regarding my thymectomy which was done recently robotically.

It was scheduled for Jan. 12, 2010; however, I went into a crisis (my first) at the beginning of December and had to be hospitalized. Neuro started me on very high steroids by IV. After 3 days symptoms worsened and then he ordered a series of up to 5 plasma exchanges (my first). They did another CT scan to make sure the thymoma had not grown since July when it was estimated at 4cm. Luckily no change there. He consulted with my surgeon and they decided to schedule my thymectomy while I was in the hospital. It was a real whirlwind.

Going into surgery there were no guarantees that the surgeon might have to revert to doing it transternal, but he was pretty confident he could do it robotically. When I woke up that was the first question I asked my husband. I spent almost 24 hours in the ICU because they wanted to watch me closely. I only have 2 small (1" or so) incisions over my right breast and 1 drainage tube site at the side of my right breast. My only discomfort (dare I say pain) came from the drainage tube which ran from the side of my right breast all the way over to near my heart. Once that was removed the next day, I was virtually painfree and did not need any pain meds.

I had my follow-up visit with my surgeon today (19 days post-op) and all is good from his standpoint.

The report on the thymoma was:
Histologic Type: Type A (epithelial, spindle cell, medullary)
Pathologic Staging: Stage IIa (microscopic transcapsular invasion)

I have a referral to an oncologist to determine if I will need any radiation and/or chemo treatments. My surgeon's "opinion" is that it will either be no treatment or possibly radiation.

I'm just so thankful to the person(s) who invented the DaVinci Surgical System and that I live in a city (Cincinnati, OH) where there are hospitals with the equipment and cardio-thoracic surgeons who use it.

I'm starting off the New Year with this all behind me.

If anyone has questions, I'll try to answer.

Kathy

Hi Kathy,

wow you have been through alot. I am glad to hear that all went well with your surgery, although its a shame it had to come about through you going into crisis.
Hope all is well and you don't have to have any follow up treatment.
Hope you have a great New Year,
take care
Kate

Thanks for letting us know what the robotic surgery is like. I was offered this at the last minute (literally about 2 days before I was supposed to have surgery), but I would have had to wait another month at least and it would have been my MD's first robotic surgery so I opted to just go ahead and have my chest cracked. I'm glad it worked out for you and it sound like your recovery time will be greatly reduced from what it would have been. Good luck with your follow up. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you don't have to have any other treatment and that the thymectomy will help your MG!

WOW I am sooo jealous! wish they had that surgery 19 years ago

I am so happy you had this done and that all is going well!