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After Four Years of
Pain…... A SOLUTION FOR FIBROIDS
By Patrice DickeyClaudia Murawski learned the hard way that not all doctors are created equal. She and her husband Al, a successful developer supervising construction on the new Cowles Clinic at Lake Oconee, moved to Reynolds Plantation four years ago. Then age 49, Claudia began to experience pain, heavy bleeding and abnormal periods due to uterine fibroid tumors. “I went to one gynecologist who put me on a drug to shrink the fibroids, which slammed me into early menopause,” said the dynamic grandmother, who was a top producer in real estate and had a successful interior design business in Michigan. “Both my body and my mind were negatively affected,” she said. “It was like living in hell for four years.” She was told she could have had a hysterectomy right then to end the problem, but today she is glad she avoided having surgery until she met the right surgeon. Both her hormone specialist Wayne Hudak, MD, and urologist Bob Cowles, MD, founder of the Cowles Clinic at Lake Oconee, recommended Dr. Tom Lyons of the Center for Women’s Care & Reproductive Surgery to Claudia. Through research she learned the difference between gynecologic surgery done the old way, with long abdominal incisions, and the minimally invasive way, which has been practiced for more than a decade. After discussion with Dr. Lyons, she chose the surgical procedure that would be least invasive, the Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomy or LSH. A traditional “bikini incision” means slicing through abdominal muscles and nerves which can take weeks or months to heal, and sometimes causes radiating pain down the legs. With laparoscopic procedures, patients endure less pain, less risk and recover more quickly. After discussion with Dr. Lyons, who has a satellite office at the Cowles Clinic, she chose the surgical procedure that would be least invasive, the Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomy or LSH. ALL QUESTIONS ANSWERED Claudia’s confidence in the procedure increased exponentially after discovering that Dr. Lyons developed the minimally invasive LSH fifteen years ago in 1990 and has performed hundreds of them successfully. Hundreds of discerning patients aren’t willing to settle for “the way it’s always been done” if they can find a less debilitating surgery. Many find him on the Internet and come to him from as far as Tokyo, Rome, Madrid, Australia and Buenos Aires. Importantly, LSH leaves the cervix intact as a keystone support to the female anatomy, which improves sexual function post-surgery and helps prevent pelvic prolapse later. “I’ve heard from so many women about residual problems after these surgeries, like bladder leakage problems or pain from scar tissue. In my case, I was up in four days—and at three weeks I had to remind myself not to overdo. I couldn’t even see the tiny incision in my navel after two weeks!” said Claudia. She resumed golfing six weeks after the surgery. “Dr. Lyons and his team are so great! God was good to steer me in the right direction,” she added. “Dr. Cowles and Dr. Hudak both said he is the best!” Although Dr. Lyons has trained hundreds of surgeons around the world on the LSH technique he developed, most doctors don’t perform it. Some surgeons refuse to perform laparoscopic procedures on a large uterus. The size of the problem is not an issue for Dr. Lyons. “It’s especially important that patients choose a surgeon who is experienced in working with lasers and laparoscopy. LSH requires more skill than open abdominal hysterectomy. It’s easier on the patient, but more challenging for the surgeon,” explained Dr. Lyons. Many surgeons will attempt a laparoscopic procedure and feel it necessary to convert to an open surgery with a long incision during the procedure. Make sure to ask your surgeon about his or her conversion ratio. Dr. Lyons’ conversion ratio is less than one percent.
Center for Women's Care &
Reproductive Surgery© 2006 |
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