About Me (In My Own Words)
Hi, Adam,
I’d like to share with you the experience of my husband, Don, aged 75, using the da Vinci non-invasive system for heart surgery. He had two complicated conditions that led to his surgery; a critically tight blockage (90%) in the left anterior descending coronary artery, indicating a bypass, plus a severely leaking mitral valve. Complicating this further was Parkinson’s. He feared having open heart surgery and, thankfully, we were led to Dr. Husam Balkhy who performs both of these two procedures independently using the da Vinci robot without opening the sternum. In fact, he is only one of two or three surgeons in the country who routinely performs totally robotic coronary bypass surgery.
So Don’s surgery could have been done either by the traditional open chest approach or less traditionally using a double non-invasive approach, but since Dr. Balkhy is a pioneer in minimally invasive cardiac surgery and indicated that both procedures could be done at the same time robotically, Don opted with that decision.
The complex mitral valve repair and coronary bypass were done robotically replacing some of Don’s torn chords on the mitral valve and using the left internal mammary artery to bypass the left blocked artery on the front of the heart. Everything was accomplished through a small 1.5 inch incision and several 10mm holes on his right side for the robotic arms.
Don did have a setback because of his Parkinson’s, but within days after his release from the hospital he went back to work with basically no physical restrictions since his surgery was done without cracking the chest.
This was the third time in the United States that these combined procedures were done robotically. Because of this fact, it was a unique situation for Community Memorial Hospital in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, where the surgery was performed. It is a very good complex and the care was excellent.
Dr. Balkhy is an extremely dedicated and gifted surgeon, being a presenter and educator for robotic surgery and shows great potential for the medical field. In addition to always being encouraging and supportive, he was very compassionate towards both Don’s and my needs.
We feel very blessed to have had Dr. Balkhy as the heart surgeon who gave life back to Don through robotic surgery, to his surgical team, and to all at Community Memorial Hospital who cared for him.
Marlene Marlow
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin
