Kricket's Story: The Choice For Robotic Surgery

In 2015, Kricket Cain of Troy was preparing for her wedding and absolutely wanted to save her vacation days for her honeymoon. That’s one reason she’s grateful that when she needed to have her gallbladder removed, she had robotic surgery which resulted in minimum time away from her job. 

Kricket’s gallbladder trouble had been around for five years, off and on. She would experience pain in her right side every now and then but she attributed it to eating greasy food or some other dietary choice. 

But when the pain became more frequent and more intense, in March 2015, Kricket knew she should seek medical help – and she knew just who to consult. Kricket is a certified medical assistant at Miami Country Surgeons, part of Premier Physician Network, and she decided to ask Zachery Simmons, MD, for his opinion. “I know what an excellent surgeon Dr. Simmons is and I’ve seen firsthand his kind way of treating people,” Kricket says. “I’ve heard a patient ask the same questions three times and Dr. Simmons is always kind and patient – and very thorough.”

Dr. Simmons ordered an ultrasound and the results showed that Kricket had a gallstone that was causing her pain. Gallstones are lumps of solid material that form in the gallbladder, a small organ under the liver. Gallstones are made when the digestive juice called bile gets hard and stone-like. They can be as small as a grain of sand or as big as a golf ball. 

Dr. Simmons recommended that Kricket have her gallbladder removed, a procedure known as a cholecystectomy. People can live a healthy life without a gallbladder. Removing the gallbladder can relieve pain and will also prevent future attacks.

Dr. Simmons discussed both traditional and robotic surgery with Kricket -- and for her the choice was easy. In her four years in the medical office, she had observed that patients who had robotic surgery had fewer complaints and recovered more quickly than those patients who underwent traditional surgery.

On Thursday, April 30, 2015, Dr. Simmons performed a robotic cholecystectomy on Kricket in an outpatient surgery at Upper Valley Medical Center.

Thanks to the robotic surgery, Kricket was back at work the following Tuesday, not needing to take more days off, days that she wanted to use for her honeymoon. She reports a quick and easy recovery and, best of all, no more gall bladder pain.