Update on Nguyen Duy Hai’s recovery from removal of 82-kg tumor, walking again

Nguyen Duy Hai from Da Lat city, who has had his right leg tumor removed, is practicing walking by using a mobile walker for disabled people twice a day at Ho Chi Minh City-based FV hospital and be expected to discharged in a month.

Your Ad Here

He is practicing walking on his left leg with assistance from two physical therapists at FVH

Over the past two weeks, the 32-year-old patient is instructed by 2 physical therapists to exercise his left leg that he didn’t use for the last four years.

Hai practices walking twice a day at a yard located on the third floor of FVH.

As the fourth son of a 5-children family, Hai was born a normal child until his limbs got weakened and unable to stand.

At 4, his right leg showed abnormal signs of growing much faster than the other one. He left school at 11 when his deformity was difficult to cope with.The tumor weighed up to 25 kg when he was 17, prompting his family to ask Lam Dong General Hospital to amputate the right limb. At the time, doctors still couldn’t diagnose the cause and the tumor suffered from cracked skin and necrosis.

However, since 2001, the amputated leg developed a tumor again, which kept growing bigger until it reached 1m in diameter and 80 kg in weight.

Well-known American surgeon McKay McKinnon successfully removed his massive tumor after a grueling 12-hour long surgery at HCMC-based FV hospital on January 5, 2012.

Nguyen Duy Hai of Lam Dong Province, the 33-year-old man who had an 82-kilogram tumor removed on January 5, has recovered sufficiently to be discharged from the hospital, doctors said.

“However, it will take some more time to complete the skin transplantation,” said Dr. Phan Van Thai of Ho Chi Minh City’s FV Hospital.

He said that Hai developed necrosis two weeks after the surgery. However, his wounds healed well after another two weeks without becoming infected and in that time he stopped using painkillers, he said.

Just one month after the surgery, Hai was able to stand up and walk on crutches for a few steps, the hospital said.

“It was an amazing recovery and brought extreme happiness not only to Hai but for the entire hospital staff who have been taking care of him,” it said.

Sylvie Nguyen of FV Hospital said she had prepared a special diet for Hai. “We divided it into 10 meals per day because he could not eat much each time. Every meal is rich in calories to improve his health and to prepare him for the skin transplant,” she said.

Catherine Cousin, head of physical therapy department

Catherine Cousin, head of the hospital’s physical therapy ward, said Hai has been very diligent in doing his prescribed exercises and has shown great improvement. Doctors said Hai will have to stay in the hospital for an additional month to have a series of skin transplant procedures, after which time, they expect him to return to his home in Lam Dong’s Da Lat Town, where he plans to learn how to repair mobile phones in order to earn a living.

Related posts:

1. Update on Nguyen Duy Hai’s condition, patient with 90 kg tumor removed
2. Nguyen Duy Hai, with 82 kg tumor removed, to celebrate Tet at home
3. Nguyen Duy Hai, former giant tumor patient, is learning to walk again
4. Nguyen Duy Hai, man with 82 kg tumor, finally returns home
5. Nguyen Duy Hai is stable at one week after giant tumor surgery and the women in his life.