Kimberly from Dallas, TX was diagnosed with endometriosis 13 years ago, at age 23. She had been struggling with pelvic pain and had a laparoscopic procedure to remove endometrial implants. Kimberly was trying to get pregnant and went through years of fertility treatments. After two miscarriages, she decided to give her body a break.
“I noticed at first the pain wasn’t as bad as before, but I started thinking my endometriosis had grown back. At that point, we had wanted to start trying for a baby again, but the pain was getting worse. I saw my gynecologist and he brushed me off.” Kimberly remembers how one night in December 2014 her pain got so severe that she had to be rushed to the ER. “I had a big complex ovarian cyst. The ER doctors told me to follow up with my gynecologist, who brushed me off again. I decided I needed to find a specialist. I found one here in my area. I had surgery in May 2015, and was scraped pretty clean. I had masses on the left and right ovary. After that surgery, I was in a tremendous amount of pain. At that point, the specialist also said that he thought I had adenomyosis. My endometriosis was also some of the worst he’d ever seen.” Resection of endometriosis must be performed by an experienced, skilled specialist and needs to be thorough in order to avoid pelvic adhesions, and avoid damaging delicate structures in the pelvic cavity. The surgical approach makes all the difference in the final surgical outcome and the patient’s recovery. For Kimberly, recovery was tough. KIMBERLY’S GYN CONDITIONS CAUSED SEVERE SYMPTOMS AND AFFECTED HER ABILITY TO CONCEIVE “Even though my cycle was screwed up, my doctor said if I wanted to have kids, now would be the time. I went to see a fertility specialist who performed a hysterosalpingogram (HSG). The HSG showed that my fallopian tubes were damaged: One was mangled and one was blocked.” It was hard for Kimberly to conceive a child naturally and there was a high risk of her not being able to carry to term. Endometriosis can severely affect a woman’s reproductive system. With adenomyosis, endometrial cells grow into the wall of the uterus and cause severe symptoms. “The pain was so bad sometimes, I felt like I was going to pass out, throw up or both. In January, I started bleeding heavily in a way I had never done before. Twenty-four hours after I went to the emergency room. The results from that visit showed that I was within the normal blood volume range. They told me to follow-up with my gynecologist. He couldn’t see me for almost a week. I saw another GYN at another office, and she gave me some medication, but the bleeding hadn’t stopped by Wednesday. I called the GYN and she asked if I had passed out, I said no, but I felt lightheaded. She told me to go to the emergency room. It was the icing on the cake. At this point, I couldn’t have children, I was in so much pain, and now almost bleeding to death. I knew it was time to have my uterus removed.” LOOKING FOR THE BEST HYSTERECTOMY PROCEDURE & OVERCOMING THE FEAR Kimberly researched her options looking for a top hysterectomy surgery and found CIGC online. “The Center for Innovative GYN Care popped up in my newsfeed on Facebook, probably because I’d been searching online for hysterectomy surgery. I liked how detailed the website was and how much information was on there. Since I couldn’t find what I was looking for in Texas, I took a chance and called. The scheduler was able get me in to see Dr. Danilyants in a couple of weeks.” Too many women who’ve had hysterectomies performed by a non-specialist, have dealt with severe post-surgical complications. In 2006, Kimberly’s mom had an experimental robotic hysterectomy that led to complications which resulted in her dying during a later operation. Deciding to have this procedure was not an easy choice for Kimberly. Click to learn more about the disadvantages of robotic surgery. “All of the women in my family have had endometriosis and fibroids. My mom had major problems with fibroids. She needed to have several transfusions. She let it go too long, and she ultimately decided that she needed to have a hysterectomy to survive. The surgeon that she found wasn’t her normal gynecologist. He used the DaVinci machine, which wasn’t well understood and new to the market at the time. He decided he wanted to play with the machine and test it out on her, even though he told her she wasn’t a good candidate for machine use. It was so new, a rep from the robot manufacturer was there in the surgery with the doctor. The hysterectomy took 9 hours, he didn’t know what he was doing. As a result, my mother ended up with complete loss of her kidneys and had to be put on dialysis, and developed foot drop. She had a brace on her leg. One day, she got up and tripped and broke her leg. It never healed, and kept getting infected. She lost part of her leg below the knee to amputation. She also ended up with a life-threatening hernia in her abdomen. After years of pain, countless surgeries, several days of dialysis each week, loss of her leg, and confinement to a wheelchair, she died during the hernia surgery at the age of 54.” After going through that, it was important for Kimberly to find a top hysterectomy doctor that she can trust. She was scared and did not want to end up with life-altering complications like her mother. TRAVELING TO CIGC FOR DUALPORTGYN HYSTERECTOMY “Before deciding to travel, I was worried about how bad I would feel, and scared about dealing with the pain on the flight home. But, those worries were for nothing. I felt really good, even the day of the surgery. I actually flew home a day earlier than planned (2 days later). I am really happy that I decided to go ahead with coming to CIGC. It was a little uncomfortable on the plane, but it wasn’t bad. That made it a lot easier to travel. Whatever they do differently worked... It was a great decision to go to CIGC.” Kimberly said. Kimberly had a total hysterectomy surgery with DualPortGYN, an advanced laparoscopic approach using only two 5 MM incisions, in outpatient settings. With the help of a powerful technique called “Retroperitoneal Dissection (RP Dissection or RPD)”, the surgeon can visualize the entire pelvis and avoids injury to vital structures. This allows for safe, effective results with the best recovery possible. See A Comparison of Current Techniques: Hysterectomy Surgery on Dr. Paul MacKoul’s Tumblr.
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The search for the best hysterectomy surgeon close to where you live can be difficult. CIGC has a travel program for women who reside outside the area and can’t find minimally invasive treatment options close to home. To discuss laparoscopic hysterectomy with a CIGC physician Dr. Natalya Danilyants MD or Dr. Paul MacKoul MD, call 888-SURGERY or contact us online. CIGC has offices in Rockville, MD, Annapolis, MD and Reston, VA. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Natalya Danilyants MD on Facebook | Paul MacKoul MD on Facebook Natalya Danilyants MD on Twitter | Paul MacKoul MD on Twitter Natalya Danilyants MD on LinkedIn | Paul MacKoul MD on LinkedIn
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