The Formula for Healing: Willie’s Story

In his decades as a chemist, Willie spent his career ana­lyz­ing com­pounds, bal­anc­ing risks, and ensur­ing every for­mu­la was just right. So when faced with a seri­ous health con­cern, he applied that same ana­lyt­i­cal mind­set to his own care. As he explored his options, one thing became clear — Duly Health and Care was where he need­ed to be.

A Jour­ney of Care

For more than 25 years, Willie has been a patient of Michael Paik, MD, FACS, a Urol­o­gist at Duly, receiv­ing treat­ment for an enlarged prostate. How­ev­er, dur­ing a rou­tine check­up, a con­cern­ing sign prompt­ed fur­ther testing.

“My pri­ma­ry doc­tor ini­tial­ly found a small amount of blood in my urine, so we ran tests. Every­thing point­ed to prostate issues, and my doc­tor reas­sured me that there was no imme­di­ate cause for con­cern. I con­tin­ued fol­low­ing up with him every year,” Willie explained.

Over time, his symp­toms wors­ened. Dr. Paik rec­om­mend­ed addi­tion­al test­ing, lead­ing to an ultra­sound that revealed cysts on both kid­neys. Fur­ther test­ing, includ­ing an MRI, uncov­ered a like­ly can­cer­ous tumor on Willie’s left kidney.

Surgery was the tra­di­tion­al treat­ment option, but Willie want­ed to explore less inva­sive alter­na­tives before com­mit­ting to a major procedure.

“I know that once you go through surgery, there’s no going back. I want­ed to explore every option and ensure I was mak­ing the right deci­sion for my health in the long run,” Willie said.

Explor­ing Less Inva­sive Options

After dis­cussing his options with Dr. Paik, Willie was referred to Danial Jilani, MD, MPH, an Inter­ven­tion­al Radi­ol­o­gist at Duly, who took the time to thor­ough­ly review his treat­ment choices.

“There are sev­er­al dif­fer­ent meth­ods of abla­tion for tumors, includ­ing radiofre­quen­cy, microwave, and cryoab­la­tion (freez­ing),” explained Dr. Jilani. ​“Each method has its ben­e­fits depend­ing on the type, size, and loca­tion of the tumor.”

For Willie, Dr. Jilani rec­om­mend­ed microwave abla­tion (MWA)—a min­i­mal­ly inva­sive pro­ce­dure that uses heat to pre­cise­ly tar­get and destroy tumors while min­i­miz­ing dam­age to sur­round­ing healthy tissue.

Dur­ing the pro­ce­dure, a thin, long nee­dle was insert­ed through a small hole in the skin, guid­ed by imag­ing tech­niques such as CT or ultra­sound. Once in place, the nee­dle emit­ted microwave ener­gy to heat and destroy the tumor with­in a con­trolled zone.

“The goal is to con­cen­trate the heat direct­ly on the tumor while aim­ing to min­i­mize the amount injury to the healthy tis­sue around the tumor,” Dr. Jilani said. ​“Giv­en that every­thing is done through a pin­hole through the skin with­out a major inci­sion microwave abla­tion can be effec­tive for small and hard to reach tumors and avoids a major oper­a­tion while aim­ing for a cura­tive effect.” 

Since MWA is min­i­mal­ly inva­sive, it also comes with quick­er recov­ery times and less pain com­pared to tra­di­tion­al surgery. Addi­tion­al­ly, it can be a safer option for old­er patients or those with oth­er health con­cerns, like chron­ic kid­ney dis­ease. Because the pro­ce­dure doesn’t require gen­er­al anes­the­sia, it elim­i­nates the risks asso­ci­at­ed with car­diopul­monary complications.

“Abla­tion can treat tumors very quick­ly com­pared to chemother­a­py or radi­a­tion and is asso­ci­at­ed with few­er side effects,” Dr. Jilani said. ​“Accord­ing to inter­ven­tion­al radi­ol­o­gy lit­er­a­ture, microwave abla­tion also has low­er costs, com­pli­ca­tion rates, and short­er pro­ce­dure dura­tions com­pared to par­tial nephrectomy.”

Willie under­went the pro­ce­dure and was able to go home the same day. ​“The whole team was incred­i­ble. The nee­dle site healed quick­ly, and I was able to show­er the next day,” he added.

Pos­i­tive Results

Fol­low­ing the pro­ce­dure, Willie under­went anoth­er MRI with con­trast. Dr. Jilani thor­ough­ly reviewed the results with him, answer­ing all his ques­tions. The scan con­firmed the pro­ce­dure was successful.

“The team took the time to explain the results to me, and it was reas­sur­ing to see the progress,” Willie said. ​“I wasn’t feel­ing any more pain or issues, so I knew the treat­ment had been effec­tive. I trust­ed the doc­tors and their approach, and I’m con­fi­dent mov­ing forward.”

Con­fi­dence in His Care Team

Reflect­ing on his jour­ney, Willie empha­sized how the expe­ri­ence rein­forced his trust in the Duly team. From his long-stand­ing rela­tion­ship with Dr. Paik to the cut­ting-edge care pro­vid­ed by Dr. Jilani, he always felt he was in the right place with the right peo­ple guid­ing his care.

“Dr. Paik and Dr. Jilani worked togeth­er seam­less­ly. I felt very com­fort­able know­ing that they were col­lab­o­rat­ing on my care. The doc­tors and their teams always kept me informed and on track,” he said.

For Willie, this expe­ri­ence was a reminder of the impor­tance of hav­ing a care team you trust — one that guides your health with exper­tise, com­pas­sion, and precision.

“I can’t say enough about how well I’ve been treat­ed,” he shared. ​“When I vis­it the office, it feels like vis­it­ing fam­i­ly. Every­one is so wel­com­ing and easy­go­ing, from the nurs­es to the doc­tors. I trust them com­plete­ly with my care.”