Little Ivy Napiorkowski is enjoying playing out in the sun again after becoming the youngest patient in the country to undergo robotic surgery. Photo: Supplied.
A Weipa toddler has made medical history as the youngest robotic surgery patient in Australia after receiving a life-changing kidney operation.
Three-year-old Ivy Napiorkowski is back to running around and playing after recovering smoothly from the high-tech procedure at Mater Private Hospital Townsville – Australia’s leading centre for paediatric robotic surgery.
Mum April Napiorkowski said she found out about her daughter’s painful kidney issues at 20 weeks pregnant.
“They noticed it then, and let us know that, hopefully, by six weeks, she would’ve grown out of it and it would sort itself out, and obviously, it didn’t,” she said.
“She’s been getting scans and ultrasounds and all sorts of things done since she was born, and it just got progressively worse.”
She said she was referred to Dr Janani Krishnan at Mater Private Hospital Townsville, who suggested robotic surgery would mean a better recovery for little Ivy.
“She was first going in for open surgery, but Dr Janani, she jumped through heaps of hoops to get her signed off to do the robotic surgery,” she said.
“To be honest, at first, when they said she was the first three-year-old, I was a bit scared, but Dr Janani, she really explained everything to me, and gave me the peace of mind that this is going to be so much better for her.”
Even at the tender age of three, Ms Napiorkowski said Ivy had taken on her condition and surgery like a champ, calling the small scars left after the procedure her “superpower spots”.
“Ivy is a superstar – she was always knowing that her side would hurt, and I’ve always been very open with her about what’s going on, so she was ready for it, and happy to finally fix her belly, she would say,” she said.
“Instead of a huge scar, it was only four tiny scars that kind of look like little staple scars, so it was a lot easier for recovery for a three-year-old.
“She calls them her superpower spots, and she presses them, and one makes her invisible, one makes her fast – she’s just made up all these little things.”
