Climbing the stairs a week after surgery is no problem for one patient
Living on the top floor of a tenement block with no lift could seem a daunting prospect for many patients recovering at home from major surgery.
But Geraldine Macaulay, 55, is already able to routinely scale the more than 80 steps to her flat in Glasgow’s leafy West End district, despite having undergone treatment in April at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank.
The optometrist was diagnosed that same month with adenocarcinoma, a malignant tumour formed from glandular structures in epithelial tissue.
This meant she had to undergo a lower left lobectomy, which entailed the removal of part of the lower left lobe of her lung due to cancer.
Such surgery would previously have entailed a long and often painful period of convalescence due to its invasive nature.
Instead, Geraldine is managing her recovery by simply taking four paracetamol tablets each day.
It follows surgery using a state-of-the-art Da Vinci system, which is controlled by a surgeon from a console in the operating theatre.
The hospital is the first unit in the UK to dedicate such a robotics system to lung patients within its thoracic services team.
“The diagnosis was a bolt out of the blue,” she told The Scotsman.
“It was mooted around two weeks before that my operation would be something more unusual.
“I was quite happy. I was of course pleased with anything that would give me a better outcome, and to support something progessive.” Geraldine was in hospital for five nights, and was back “out and about” just a week later.
“It’s a daunting prospect having any kind of surgery as well as being diagnosed with cancer,” she continued.
“But my situation was definitely helped, despite the traumatic experience of being diagnosed, by having an easier experience (post-surgery).
“It has definitely made things better for me.”