Newscaster: ...return home and rebuild there lives, one man faced an additional obstacle, prostate cancer, but through the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina he found hope through a fellow evacuee, good timing, and new technology.
New8's Paul Brown shares his story.
Paul Brown: John Barone never thought he'd end up in a hospital room in Austin. Just weeks ago he was forced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. He was fortunate enough to have a house in central Texas and he opened it up not only for his family, but other evacuees.
John: We had five families, eight children under eight, grandmas, great aunts, whatever. Some family, some friends of family.
Paul: Among all the damage in New Orleans, the results of his recent prostate biopsy. His doctor, [Neil Bond] nowhere to be found. His luck began to change though when one of the evacuees he took in ended up returning the favor in a big way.
John: No doctor, no lab report, no biopsies, we can't find anything. So one of the ladies out there knew my doctor. In fact he had helped evacuate her to Austin. So she gave me his cell phone.
Paul: John called and found out it was cancer. He needed to have surgery as soon as possible, and that's when more coincidences began stacking up.
John: He said well where are you? I said I'm in Austin, Texas, and he said great, you couldn't be in a better place. He said the best urological surgeon in the country, at least one of the best, is right there in Austin, is Dr. Fagin.
Paul: So John met Dr. Randy Fagin of the urology team at St. David's hospital. Now John was not only getting quick treatment, but treatment with the new technological system known as the da Vinci Surgical System. This minimal evasive surgery allows the surgeon to sit beside the patient in a booth, looking at the patient as if he's playing a video game operated by a mouse.
This allows an actual 3-D, binocular view of the patient.
Doctor: It's scaled so when my hand moves a large amount, the mouse or the robot moves a smaller amount that allows me greater precision with what I do. But that arrow is not gonna move on its own, the mouse doesn't move by itself.
Paul: Surgeons can then contour their motions to the patient's anatomy rather than forcing their anatomy to adjust to the instruments.
John: Cutting nerves and incontinence and things that used to be a major problem with a radical vasectomy, it's basically been to a large degree eliminated.
Dr. Fagin: I hope he'll be able to get his urinary control back in a couple of weeks, sexual function back in a matter of weeks to months...I mean it's literally a small blip in his life to be able to have robotic surgery and get on with his life.
Paul: Only a day after having the cancer removed, John and his family are on their way home.
John: You go in there and then 24 hours later you're getting in the car and going home. It's all over with and that is a wonderful feeling.
Paul: So he's headed home, eventually he hopes that means home to New Orleans.
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12-20-08 Dr. Fagin on Healthvueby urologyteam323 views
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