When Barbara Dressman decided to do the historic 500-mile trek across Spain in the Camino de Santiago, she had no way to know the most difficult part of the journey would come before she took the first step.“I think one step at a time. That’s kind of how you take the Camino,” Dressman said. “You don’t look too much forward. You take in the day and I kind of felt that way with my journey.Dressman and her husband Jim Dressman had done parts of the Camino, also called the Way of St. James, in the past, but never the full 500 miles.“We do it as a pilgrimage. We love the churches and the people,” she said.The trip was in jeopardy when doctors found a non-malignant tumor inside her heart a matter of weeks before she had planned to go. Traditional open-heart surgery would mean months of recovery.Barbara had resigned to let Jim go and do the trip on his own, but a doctor at St. Elizabeth had another perspective. His came though the lens of an endoscope.“It’s called endoscopic cardiac surgery. It’s a little bit of an umbrella title. Endoscopic means the operation is done through the lens of a scope,” said Dr. Mario Castillo-Sang.” So, in a monitor, the surgeon sees the object. We’re not reaching out to touch it, you cannot touch it you reach it out with instruments.”Castillo-Sang is head of cardiac surgery at St. Elizabeth.He said endoscopic surgery does not require nearly as much cutting as open heart surgery. The breastbone does not need to be cut, so healing is much quicker.“Today, it can be done with a 3-centimeter incision and a camera,” Castillo-Sang said.Castillo-Sang also headed up a recent global conference with the world’s leading endoscopic surgeons who came to St. Elizabeth to learn about the latest techniques, help refine the process and make it more a procedure more common in the U.S.Castillo-Sang said in Europe, about 60 percent of heart surgeries are done with an endoscope, but in the U.S., the number is closer to 24 percent.Barbara Dressman had the tumor removed by surgery Castillo-Sang at St. Elizabeth and in a matter of weeks she set out on the journey she had planned.“We walked all 500 miles,” she said. “It was just a gift that I’ll always be thankful for.”
When Barbara Dressman decided to do the historic 500-mile trek across Spain in the Camino de Santiago, she had no way to know the most difficult part of the journey would come before she took the first step.
“I think one step at a time. That’s kind of how you take the Camino,” Dressman said. “You don’t look too much forward. You take in the day and I kind of felt that way with my journey.
Dressman and her husband Jim Dressman had done parts of the Camino, also called the Way of St. James, in the past, but never the full 500 miles.
“We do it as a pilgrimage. We love the churches and the people,” she said.
The trip was in jeopardy when doctors found a non-malignant tumor inside her heart a matter of weeks before she had planned to go. Traditional open-heart surgery would mean months of recovery.
Barbara had resigned to let Jim go and do the trip on his own, but a doctor at St. Elizabeth had another perspective. His came though the lens of an endoscope.
“It’s called endoscopic cardiac surgery. It’s a little bit of an umbrella title. Endoscopic means the operation is done through the lens of a scope,” said Dr. Mario Castillo-Sang.” So, in a monitor, the surgeon sees the object. We’re not reaching out to touch it, you cannot touch it you reach it out with instruments.”
Castillo-Sang is head of cardiac surgery at St. Elizabeth.
He said endoscopic surgery does not require nearly as much cutting as open heart surgery. The breastbone does not need to be cut, so healing is much quicker.
“Today, it can be done with a 3-centimeter incision and a camera,” Castillo-Sang said.
Castillo-Sang also headed up a recent global conference with the world’s leading endoscopic surgeons who came to St. Elizabeth to learn about the latest techniques, help refine the process and make it more a procedure more common in the U.S.
Castillo-Sang said in Europe, about 60 percent of heart surgeries are done with an endoscope, but in the U.S., the number is closer to 24 percent.
Barbara Dressman had the tumor removed by surgery Castillo-Sang at St. Elizabeth and in a matter of weeks she set out on the journey she had planned.
“We walked all 500 miles,” she said. “It was just a gift that I’ll always be thankful for.”