Shannon's da Vinci StoryI was diagnosed with an endometrioma on the left ovary in the spring of 2007. My doctor scheduled me for minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery to remove the mass. When he was removing the mass from the ovary he found that the ovary was completely adhered to the side wall. He removed much of the mass at this time and also spared my Ovary. About eight months after my surgery I was in for a routine appointment and I commented to my doctor that I was having some pain again in the lower left side of my abdomen. When I was taken into have an ultrasound a few minutes later I was still convinced it was nothing. That nothing turned out to be another mass on my left ovary. I knew that this time the ovary would have to come out and due to its placement on the side wall the surgery would have to be done abdominally. The recovery after this surgery could be as long as six weeks. I am a very active person and the thought of being laid up for that long only added to an already difficult situation. When I met with my doctor he told me about daVinci robotic surgery as another option I could consider for my surgery. This option would be minamaly invasive and my recovery would be very comparable with that of my first surgery. We scheduled my surgery that day with the daVinci robot. On June 24 I went in for my surgery with daVinci and on July 5 I was holding my daughter walking down the aisle at my sister-in-laws wedding. I couldn’t have been happier with the outcome. Shannon
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