Patient Stories - Ginette from Oxford

On holiday 2 years ago my husband was rubbing sun tan lotion into my increasingly large stomach and said to me 'this isn't fat; it's all hard and there's a large lump down your right side'.   I had been feeling increasingly uncomfortable sitting down and when I bent over I couldn't breathe.  I assumed I was getting fat, although I wasn't eating that much.  I had also been having very painful periods, which were lasting 12 days.

I was very worried because I thought I had ovarian cancer and went to see my GP.  She organised an immediate ultrasound scan and I was told, much to my relief, that I had very large fibroids, not cancer, but that they were enlarging my kidneys.  My GP told me that the fibroids could be treated by surgery - hysterectomy or myomectomy (where just the fibroids are surgically removed) or by drugs, which put you into the menopause.  I said I didn't like the sound of the drugs and didn't want a hysterectomy.

I ran a medical company specialising in radiology products.  I had been very impressed by the interventional radiologists I had met and seen the excellent results of their work.  I had seen a technique called embolisation to treat an aneurysm in the brain (a dangerous ballooning of a blood vessel), which previously would have required major brain surgery.  I also knew that embolisation could be used to treat inoperable cancers.  It cuts off the blood supply to the cancer so it shrivels and dies.  I asked my GP if the same embolisation technique could be used on my fibroids.  She said that Dr Cowan at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford was working in this field.

I researched the various treatment options open to me on the internet and looked at the clinical papers on fibroid embolisation, hysterectomy and myomectomy, before I saw the gynaecologist.

I was particularly worried about the very invasive nature of a hysterectomy, the long recovery period, the high risk of possibly fatal DVT and long term side effects -possible urinary incontinence and loss of libido and enjoyment of sex. Having researched the subject I felt that embolisation was what I wanted because it was much less invasive - no surgery or general anaesthetic was involved, there was only a 1 night hospital stay, only the fibroids were treated, the rest of my body would remain intact.  I had a very senior and demanding job and would be back to work much sooner.

My gynaecologist told me I had at least two very large fibroids, possibly more and that my uterus was almost the size of a full term pregnancy.  I had obviously had the fibroids for a long time.  I particularly asked him about the effect of a hysterectomy on my subsequent enjoyment of sex.  He surprised me by saying he didn't know. We discussed the options and I opted for embolisation.

Dr Nigel Cowan, Consultant Urogenital and Interventional Radiologist, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, carried out an MR (magnetic resonance) scan.  This showed that I had four fibroids, two of which were over 10cm, about the size of a cricket ball and none were pedunculated (on a stalk), which would have precluded embolisation.

Dr Cowan enrolled me into his clinical trail on uterine embolisation and he carried out my embolisation.

Six months later I had another MR scan at the end of my treatment.  The results were spectacular.  I only have one small fibroid left and my uterus had returned to a normal size.  My stomach is much smaller, my clothes feel loose and I can bend over without feeling ill.  My periods now last 4 or 5 days and are not nearly as painful.  I have no scars, as I've had no surgery. I feel better than I've felt for years.

Now 18 months on I feel like a new woman.  I've started playing squash again, my periods are hardly noticeable, as they were at school, there's not reduction in my libido, quite the reverse, and I look younger and slimmer.

My embolisation has been really successful.  I am delighted that I chose this option and I would and have recommend it to other women.

[home] [site map] [contact us]