Meet Anne Hogan – a spry mother of seven children, 19 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
In the winter of 2020, Anne was out shoveling snow after a typical Wisconsin snowfall when she noticed she was having difficulty breathing. Anne does not suffer from asthma, so the wheezing she experienced was alarming. She decided to visit the Aspirus Doctors Clinic Walk-In right away.
The walk-In clinic provider suspected Anne was suffering from a case of bronchitis and performed a chest x-ray for confirmation. While the chest x-ray did confirm that Anne had bronchitis, another area of concern was detected. A CT scan of Anne’s chest was ordered and verified a mass underneath her rib cage.
Anne was referred to Amanda Eilers, DO, a board-certified Cardiothoracic surgeon with Aspirus Heart and Lung. Dr. Eilers informed Anne that she may be a candidate for a minimally-invasive robotic surgery. This meant that the procedure could be performed through four small incisions in her chest, rather than a more open procedure with a lengthier recovery time. Anne discussed her options with her children and decided to proceed with robotic surgery.
“Dr. Eilers explained everything to me so well, “Anne said. “She told me the surgery would not be pain free, but the recovery time would be much shorter. Dr. Eilers also had a lot of experience, which made me feel comfortable.”
Just a few days after Anne returned home from the surgery, she felt well enough to have some of her grandchildren over to spend the night. Anne said she was a bit tender for the first week but made steady improvement each week.
When asked if she would recommend this surgical option to others, Anne said, “It is not as scary as you would think, and I really liked how quickly I recovered.”
And the perfect ending to Anne’s story is that the mass was not cancerous.