Chantelle recovers at home after making medical history
Petersfield resident Chantelle Gouws (29) is extremely grateful to be given the opportunity to make medical history.
Chantelle was the first person in South Africa and the first woman to undergo a partial nephrectomy (kidney removal) using the da Vinci robotic-assisted procedure.
Rather than on her, she feels the focus should be on Dr Marius Conradie, the urologist who performed this amazing surgery.
The da Vinci technology enables surgeons to operate through a few small incisions, instead of a large open cut.
It is a robotic-assisted surgical device that the surgeon is in control of at all times.
The operation took place on Thursday, November 5, at Netcare’s Waterfall City Hospital in Midrand.
The Addie recently visited Chantelle at home where she is recovering well.
“I hope this operation will open doors to other people with similar problems in the future,” she says.
Chantelle is extremely grateful for is the support of her parents, Stéfan (53) and Melanie Gouws (51).
Her story began two months ago when she arrived at work and experienced the most excruciating abdominal pain.
She is a strategic buyer at a mining company in Jet Park.
A scan detected an ovarian cyst which had burst, but after drinking pain killers prescribed by the doctor, the pain subsided.
Two weeks later she was back in hospital with bronchitis.
It was during this admission that her general practitioner, Dr Brenda van Zyl, suggested Chantelle undergo a computerised tomography scan (CT).
Van Zyl picked up a mass on Chantelle’s left kidney (myolypoma) during a scan in August and referred her to urologist Dr Oyebole Adebisi.
Adebisi detected two masses on Chantelle’s left kidney and referred her to Conradie, whom she speaks highly of.
“Dr Conradie explained the robotic procedure to me in detail and I felt confident that he knew what he was doing,” she says, adding “he cut my kidney with finesse.”
Although she needs to do a few daily breathing and walking exercises, she feels great and is confident she will be up and about in no time.
“I can’t wait to do something like bunjee jumping,” she says.
Connect with us:
Have a story? Send Anna Robertson an email on annar@caxton.co.za or contact her on 011 812 4820.
Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter as well as our journalists @SpringsJournOne and @SpringsJournTwo.
For news straight to your phone, invite us on BBM – 7EFABEF1 or join us on WhatsApp on 079 408 9334.
