TESTIMONIALS

Dear Apollo Hospitals Team,
I wanted to send my thanks and appreciation to Apollo Hospital in Chennai for providing outstanding care to my mother from late Sept 2015 to Feb 2016.  My mother is 74 years old and living in Canada.  She was diagnosed with colon cancer during a colonoscopy in Canada in Sept 2015.  Doctors in Canada advised her to get immediate surgery to remove the tumour, which they said would then result in her having a stoma and bag attachment for the rest of her life.  Also, there started to be delays in scheduling for just the first consultation for surgery by at least 2 months and the process appeared that it could drag out before she was actually scheduled for any surgery.
After researching online and seeing the work of the colorectal specialty at the Apollo Main Hospital Chennai, I contacted Dr. Venkatesh Munikrishnan to discuss her case.  Dr. Munikrishnan's initial assessment indicated that there could be a possibility for his team to do surgery which would result only in a temporary bag for a period of time and then a less minor surgery to reverse and reattach the colon and remove the bag some time later.
We brought my mother to Chennai and after initial testing and consultation with additional specialists (including Dr. T. Raja, Oncologist and Dr. Gopal, Cardiologist), an initial treatment plan was developed by Dr. Munikrishnan and agreed with us.  It would involve 4 - 6 weeks of chemo to shrink the tumour and then robotic surgery 2 months later after the tumour had shrunk to minimize the area for removal and to have maximum chance to avoid a permanent life long bag to be attached.  The chemo treatment was not straightforward due to a massive heart attack 2 years earlier which left my mother with 40 percent heart capacity.
This chemo treatment plan was carried out by Dr. T. Raja and in Feb 2016, Dr. Munikrishnan and his team performed the successful removal of the tumour with the hoped for result of only a temporary bag being attached.
My mother is now back in Canada and doing well.  She is starting 6 months of post surgical chemo.  A surgeon in Canada has confirmed that after the chemo treatment, he will be able to perform the reverse surgery to reattach the colon and the bag will be removed, resulting in my mother returning essentially to a normal life.  The prognosis at the moment looks good.  The gastroenterologist specialist in Canada, who is now managing my mother's care, was amazed by the work done by the team at Apollo and very impressed by the surgery performed by Dr. Munikrishnan and his team.  From his experience, he does not believe she would have had the same very positive outcome and quality of life in Canada.
I would like to thank Dr. Munikrishnan for leading this effort and for being so kind and considerate with us during this time.  It was my discussions with him that led to our decision to bring her to Apollo hospital in Chennai in the first place and we are now certain that we absolutely made the right decision in doing so.  His team is amazing and, in my family's opinion, do amazing things.  Also, I would like to thank Dr. T. Raja and his team for managing the chemo so well and making sure my mother was as comfortable and pain free as possible during the entire event.  His team is outstanding.  Dr. Gopal did an excellent job in managing any issues arising from her cardiac problem.  Also, I would like to commend all of the different nurses and support staff in the different wards who were tireless in their efforts to ensure the health and well being of not only my mother, but also my father who stayed at the hospital with her the entire time.
Our family's experience clearly demonstrated that you have an outstanding, world class facility with state of the art equipment and cutting edge technology and care.  I would not hesitate in recommending Apollo to anyone.
You can use my comments above if you like.  However, I ask that you keep our identity anonymous in doing so as only our immediate family knows of my mother's condition and she prefers to keep it private.
Again, thanks to everyone.
Best Regards,
JS