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13 T M C » P U L S E | J U N E 2 0 1 8 Reconstructing a Colon with a Robot A minimally-invasive robot helps surgeons at Houston Methodist Hospital B y S h a n l e y P i e r c e I n Fall 2013, Carter Tomsu was a Rice University freshman in the middle of his first round of finals when he began experiencing unusual bowel movements. The then-18-year-old had to use the restroom nearly 30 times a day, excreting mostly blood or mucus. He dropped more than 20 pounds in a few weeks. His doctors diagnosed him with ulcerative colitis, or UC, an inflammatory bowel disease that causes the lining of the colon to develop ulcers that produce pus and mucus. This can lead to abdominal discomfort and frequent diarrhea. "For the typical person who comes in seeking surgery for UC, the bathroom is like jail," said Eric Haas, M.D., chief of the division of colon and rec- tal surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital. "They can't get out of the bathroom. There's urgency. They go to the bathroom, get up and 10 minutes later feel an awful urge to go back. It's miserable." Tomsu joined the Rice football team as a quarterback during his freshman year, but his symptoms became too severe for him to continue to play. His condition affected his academic per- formance and caused his grades to drop. In addition, he was hospitalized twice for Clostridium difficile colitis, an infection known as C. difficile that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening colon inflamma- tion. He received fecal transplants to treat the infection. Ultimately, the illness overwhelmed Tomsu. He made the difficult decision to withdraw from Rice and returned home to Austin to live under the care of his parents. "I had incontinence so bad that I would always be looking for a restroom," said Tomsu, now 22. "Even if we were driving 15 minutes to a restau- rant, I would be concerned about if something happened in the middle of the drive or at a sport- ing event and there's a line outside the restroom." Tomsu participated in three clinical trials over the span of four years and tried medication after medication, but nothing worked. After a colonos- copy revealed precancerous polyps that would eventually develop into colon cancer, Tomsu and his family decided that a higher power was direct- ing them to a surgical intervention that might solve the problem. (continued) Left: Carter Tomsu waits in the preoperative room for colon surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital. Right: Eric Haas, M.D., is the chief of the division of colon and rectal surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital. It was pretty alienating … having to live at home and putting life on pause, but it's made me who I am and I have to be thankful. If I can do this, I can do anything. — CARTER TOMSU Ulcerative colitis patient at Houston Methodist Hospital