[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s part of the recent laparoscopic training conducted with doctors and nurses at the Victoria Hospital, one patient was the beneficiary of this life-saving procedure. Laparoscopy is a surgical procedure in which a fibre-optic instrument is inserted through the abdominal wall to view the organs in the abdomen or to permit surgical procedures. Flavia Florence, a resident from Micoud, had been suffering from an enormous tumour in her abdomen which caused her great discomfort and internal bleeding.
Ms. Florence’s son-in-law, Benoit Michel, said he was extremely pleased with the outcome of the surgery and the care and attention she received at the Victoria Hospital: “I am very, very pleased; very happy, pleasantly surprised. When we found out about the tumour we were very worried. You didn’t know what to expect and you hear a lot of horror stories from persons having tumours and operations and so on, and even persons talking about going overseas because our original thoughts were to go to Martinique or somewhere else and, after meeting Dr. Kabiye and speaking with him and he explaining the procedure, and also because of the episodes that she had, we knew that she needed the surgery as quickly as possible.”
The ministry of health caught up with Ms. Florence four days after her operation. She was in high spirits, ready to be discharged and expressed her gratitude to the doctors for performing this life saving procedure.
“I felt very strong before I went to surgery because I wanted to go for the surgery and I asked God to help me, give me the strength and the courage that I could have gone through it. So, when I walked in I had no fear. I was not afraid a bit,” she said.
The breadfruit-sized tumour was removed during the operation by Dr. Kabiye, the lead surgeon performing the laparoscopic surgery at the Victoria Hospital.
Said Dr. Kabiye, “Her recovery has been really remarkable. Blood loss has been very minimal and her pain level is very low. The patient is already drinking and taking in fluids. It has been an eventful outcome compared to an open surgery which is completely opening the abdomen to be able to remove the tumour. This was no major cuts, basically small, to put on a device to be able to do the surgery. To remove the tumour or the mass is where you do the small cut.”
Dr. Kabiye is hopeful for greater investment in laparoscopic equipment for performing surgical procedures through keyhole surgery as benefits to the patient and hospital are significant.
