Tumor patients regain consciousness after surgery
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Two Vietnamese women, who were recently operated on by American surgeon McKay McKinnon to remove their tumors, have regained their consciousness, Dr. Tran Quyet Tien, deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City-based Cho Ray Hospital, announced Monday.
Both patients, who have been diagnosed withneurofibromatosis (human genetic disorder), are now able to open their eyes and move their arms, hands, legs, and other parts of their body, the doctor said.
Kieu Thi My Dung, who carried a 1.5 kg tumor on her face for years, is making a good recovery and can now breathe and drink milk by herself.
After removing Dung’s tumor on January 6, the 20-member surgical team led by Dr. McKinnon then used a part of the patient’s skull bone to recreate her right eye socket which was seriously damaged by the tumor. The team also repositioned her right cheekbone into a more symmetrical position with her left one and recreated the ciliary muscle of her right eye.
Her right ear would be also recreated, the doctor said.
Meanwhile, according to Dr. Le Hanh, head of Cho Ray’s Plastic Surgery Department, 36-year-old Thach Thi Sa Ly, who had plenty of bubble-like lumps covering her body from toe to face, is expected a slow recovery since fluid still leaks from her incisions and could undergo more surgeries to remove the remaining tumors in the future.
Dr. Hanh said Ly’s incisions do not show any symptoms of infection; however, she has to receive milk through a gastric fistula.
Dr. McKinnon, with assistance from a team of doctors and nurses of Cho Ray Hospital, on January 7 removed a total of 10 kilos of lumps mostly from her forehead, chin, hands, buttocks and around her eyes.
Ly’s surgery is the third consecutive operation that Dr. McKinnon performed in Vietnam.
On January 5 at HCMC-based hospital, a 60-member surgical team led by Dr. McKinnon successfully removed 82-kilo tumor on the right leg of 32-year-old Nguyen Duy Hai, who hails from Da Lat central highlands city.
Hai is recovering well and now can eat and breathe by himself.
Dr. McKay McKinnon and his wife left Vietnam for the US on January 8.
Make me rethink how blessed I realy am. Sure I have tumors, sure sometimes I'm embarsed about them, yes there's one that needs to be removed but nothing like those women. Thank you for posting this to give me a better perspective on a day when I was a bit down about my NF.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with the other poster, I am only slightly deformed by my nf and not this bad. But still I bet a million this person has another disease I addition to nf like the so called elephant man who was mainly deformed due to proteus a very rare disease and not nf which he also had barley.
ReplyDeleteW Ford ... Proteus affects the bones, not the outer skin. The woman in the article has a severe form of Neurofibromatosis....Not Proteus.
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