Share review of Mr Pubudu Nilantha Jeevendra Pathiraja

Mr Pubudu Nilantha Jeevendra Pathiraja 2021-05-13 Person 5 5 0

Mr Pathiraja operated on me twice in the period of 8 months, both times brilliantly, and I owe him a huge debt of gratitude for being the best and giving his best when I really needed help. First operation was on the NHS in June 2020, during the pandemic, when he performed a laparoscopy which helped diagnose ovarian cancer. I recovered in record time with no infections and the minimum use of painkillers. He was the person who told me that I had cancer and he did it with immense tact and kindness, aware that doing it over the phone (as all appointments were done at the time) it would have been difficult for me. The second operation was done privately in Oxford Manor Hospital in February 2021, after I went through a four month course of chemotherapy. By this time Mr Pathiraja was not working for the NHS in Oxford and we were assigned another surgeon. This was the worst time in my treatment, when the difficulties of the operation were presented as almost unsurmountable and we were advised to simply wait and see if/when the cancer returned. It was an option, the risk was high, but it left us in limbo and having to make decisions we were not qualified to do. We were facing a very bleak Christmas. A phone call to Mr Pathiraja made everything simple and doable and he gave us a gift of relaxed Christmas and more importantly, a future. Everything was explained with quiet confidence and not many words, but both I and my husband felt as if a huge burden was lifted from our shoulders and someone has given us a shelter. This type of support cannot be overestimated in its importance for the wellbeing to a patient. For us, it was a deus-ex-machina moment which we will remember. By the time the operation (keyhole hysterectomy, removal of nearby tissues, gland biopsies…) was organised privately, it was the height of the pandemic in February, but it went ahead and everything went well with it. I spent only one night in the hospital, nothing got infected, took painkillers for a week and was doing a five mile walk after two weeks. I have since done ten mile walks and, although I get tired, I am also getting better and better every day. Having this second operation gave me the gift of knowing that I have much better chances for the future, and what a gift that is.