As we celebrate the World Cancer Week, Kelina Hospital wishes to bring to the knowledge of the general public that it is very important for people to see their doctor at the earliest possible time when they notice the following on their bodies:
- A new swelling, which was not there before.
- Bleeding from any orifice of their body, which is not physiological
- Difficulty breathing, swallowing, passing urine, or defaecating
These are some common signs of tumours or cancers in the body.
Some people are afraid of surgery and would definitely prefer “key hole” or Minimal Access Surgery. This is what Kelina Hospital is known for. These surgeries have the following advantages, amongst others:
- There is less blood loss
- The scar is so small, and sometimes there is no scar at all
- There is less pain
- There is early return to work. Over half of our patients go back home the same day after this type of surgery
- Patient can very quickly return to normal life, including normal feeding
When surgery is over-delayed, tumours become extremely big and, in most cases, Minimal Access Surgery is no longer possible. The advantages of minimal access surgery are lost.
We had a case of an abdominal tumour that weighed 24kg which we removed in this hospital. Surgery lasted 3 hours and patient required 6 pints of blood transfusion. Patient did well post-operatively. We thought we should bring this information to the general public because it is the fear of surgery and fear of losing an organ that made patient delay this surgery. Unfortunately, that delay meant that Minimal Access Surgery using lasers or endoscopes or laparoscopic approach was no longer feasible at the time patient presented in the hospital. This made it necessary to talk to our citizens, that surgery delayed causes more harm to the patient than when done early, and the very thing people try to avoid may sometimes become impossible because of that delay. Cure is much more difficult, and delay, in the case of cancer surgery, can result in spread.
Thanks immensely.
Kelina Hospital Management.
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