Best in Care - Special Women’s Issue - (Page 5)

Becomes the Patient Discovery Health’s Dr. G: Medical Examiner chooses Florida Hospital for robotic surgery with new da Vinci system The Doctor J an Garavaglia, MD, is a wife, doctor, medical examiner for Orange and Osceola counties, and the host of the internationally telecast Discovery Health show Dr. G: Medical Examiner. While her credentials make her extraordinary, Garavaglia is like many women. She suffered for years with severe pelvic pain and endometriosis. As a doctor, she understood the necessity of treatment. She had several surgeries, but nothing seemed to give her relief. And a visit with her gynecologist and an ultrasound of her ovaries and pelvic area revealed more than endometriosis. It revealed a mass. surgery. As a doctor, I found this intriguing and as a woman it seemed like an incredible alternative to traditional surgery. Through research, I discovered that the robotic technology, da Vinci®, allows physicians greater precision and the ability to see images magnified in 3-D. Robotic minimally invasive surgery has also been so revolutionary for prostate cancer. There was no doubt in my mind that it could be equally as effective for complex gynecologic surgery. “Once I realized all of the benefits of this type of surgery for cancer, I jumped on it,” Garavaglia says. “From less pain and smaller scars to faster recovery, it was the perfect alternative for me. With my job and my show, I couldn’t afford to be out for a long time.” Glenn Bigsby, DO Neil Finkler, MD “My doctor told me it looked like something else was going on and that it might be cancer,” Garavaglia says. “I was alarmed when she said, ‘You have to take that out.’ At that point, I knew I wanted the very best gynecologic oncologist I could find—Florida Hospital’s Dr. Robert Holloway. “Dr. Holloway explained that a traditional surgical approach would keep me out of work for several weeks, and I would have a large midline surgical scar across my abdomen because of the possibility that the mass was cancerous. I didn’t like that,” she says. “He told me of an alternative approach that was very cutting-edge and involved robotic WantInG the very Best “My experience was better than I expected,” Garavaglia says. “I spent one night in the hospital and my pain was minimal. The nurses that cared for me at Florida Hospital were wonderful and put me at ease. One sweet nurse in particular brought me comfort with hot tea and lemon. “While Dr. Holloway told me it was an unusually difficult surgery because adhesions had formed inside my body, I was ecstatic that I did not have cancer. “Today, I am absolutely pain-free and I can’t even find any scars,” she says. “I was also able to go back to work and film my show just two weeks after surgery. “I’m continually amazed they can do surgery with such little scars. I still don’t quite understand it,” Garavaglia says. “It’s certainly not the surgery that I was taught in med school, but believe me I am more than grateful that Dr. Holloway was there with the da Vinci robot for me.” the evIdenCe Is Gone Robert Holloway, MD Glenn Bigsby, DO, Neil Finkler, MD, and Robert Holloway, MD, are part of Florida Hospital Global Robotics Institute and practice gynecologic oncology. Superior Outcomes A study of patients who had robotic-assisted surgery to treat uterine cancer revealed outcomes superior to those of conventional surgery. Robotic surgery patients had less pain, reduced scarring, dramatically lower complication rates and shorter hospital stays. As a result, these Florida Hospital patients were able to begin the healing process earlier and recovered faster. floridahospital.com I 5 http://floridahospital.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Best in Care - Spring 2008

Best in Care - Spring 2008 Contents The Doctor Becomes the Patient Stop the Monthly Suffering Major Surgery. Minor Scar. A Healthier Weight Expect More When Expecting

Best in Care - Spring 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.