Endometriosis turned her life into a nightmare. After the operation, she wants to scream for other women to hear

Recurrent cysts on the ovaries, their surgical removal, and finally the removal of the uterus. This is a short description of Ms Ewelina’s struggle with endometriosis, which marked her life with pain, and there were also times when she was life-threatening. Now, Ms Ewelina, who has undergone surgical treatment of endometriosis at the Hospital in Klinach in Krakow, says openly: I want as many women as possible to hear my story. I want to warn them so that they don’t have to suffer for years, just like me.

1. Endometriosis is a disease in which the lining of the womb occurs outside the womb
2. The disease is sometimes diagnosed quite late, which leads to many complications
3. Doctors see only one way out: radical surgery, i.e. removal of ovaries, uterus and everything else – says Ms Ewelina, who has been struggling with the disease for many years
4. Meanwhile, robotic surgery plays an increasingly important role in the treatment of endometriosis
5. It allows the surgeon to overcome the internal technical limitations of conventional laparoscopy – says Dr. Maciej Olszewski from the Hospital in Klinach in Krakow.
6. You can find more up-to-date information on the TvoiLokony home page

It hurts because it’s supposed to hurt

It started in 2009 when the gynecologist diagnosed her with a cyst on the ovary. She was 29 at the time, and the doctor said that “something” was an endometriosis focus and decided to undergo surgical treatment. – Now, when I look back, I can see that many years before this procedure I had symptoms of this disease. Abundant, long and painful menstruation, which every doctor ignored, saying that “it hurts because it is supposed to hurt” – recalls Ms Ewelina. It turned out that surgery was just the beginning of her struggle with this debilitating disease.

– Endometriosis is a disease in which the lining of the womb develops outside the uterine cavity. It is a hormonally active tissue, which means that it “lives” in the rhythm of the menstrual cycle. It is the second most common disease of young women between the ages of 20 and 40. According to estimates, as many as 2 million women may suffer from it in Poland alone. Chronic pain is one of the main symptoms of the disease, as are problems getting pregnant. Patients often complain of dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain, pain during intercourse or even urinating.

Due to the fact that endometriosis is not diagnosed early enough, it leads to many complications which, together with pain, contribute to a significant loss of the quality of life of women affected by it. – says Maciej Olszewski, MD, PhD from the Hospital in Klinach in Krakow, specializing in gynecological surgeries using the da Vinci robot.

Endometriosis, cyst, sepsis

The story of Ms Ewelina is simply a book-like scheme of typical symptoms of endometriosis and the progression of this disease. In 2012, he learns that he has a cyst on the ovary again, exactly in the same place as three years earlier. As a result, it ends with surgery again. Hormone treatment helps, but only for a short time.

– It was 2014, I was just writhing in pain. Another consultation with the doctor, the same diagnosis again cyst on the ovary, but this time the doctor says that in addition to the lesion itself, they must also remove adhesions that appeared as a result of previous treatments. I end up in the operating room again, but this time it was not without complications. When removing a piece of the ovary, the surgeon damages my urinary tract, so after the procedure I have to walk with a catheter inserted directly into the kidney – recalls Ms Ewelina. It turns out, however, that this is not the end of unpleasant surprises from fate. Ewelina gets sepsis and goes to the ICU. This time, she barely gets out alive. The convalescence lasted for months.

– Implants of endometriosis foci can be located on the intestines, bladder, peritoneum, as well as the ovaries and fallopian tubes, which results in various disease states adequate to the location of endometriosis, eg ovarian cysts, hematuria, gastrointestinal bleeding. In the course of the disease, adhesions also form. A delay in diagnosis and appropriate treatment may result in the spread of endometriosis. Often the most effective method of treating endometriosis is surgery, and a minimally invasive approach is considered the gold standard, explains Maciej Olszewski, MD, PhD.

In 2018, Ms Ewelina learns about another cyst and goes to the operating theater again. – Then I was really exhausted with this disgusting disease. I was taking hormone therapy, which suppressed my periods, but thanks to it I gained 10 extra kilos, which I couldn’t bear to see in the mirror. In addition, there were pains in the back and lower abdomen, which radiated all over my body, effectively depriving me of the desire to live. What else will this disease do to me? – Ewelina wondered then.

Robotic surgery is a godsend

Then she also knew that this was not the way. Therapy of small steps does not help, so he decides to take a radical, large step, especially as the disease continues to progress and the intervals between the appearance of new cysts are getting shorter and shorter. I am looking for help from specialists. – Doctors see only one way out: radical surgery, i.e. removal of ovaries, uterus and everything else – explains Ms Ewelina.

Only after all these surgeries he is afraid of a scalpel, he is considering a minimally invasive operation and so he goes to the Hospital in Klinach in Krakow, where he treats endometriosis with the da Vinci robot.

– Robotic surgery is playing an increasingly important role in the treatment of endometriosis, especially for the safe and radical operation of deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE). It allows the surgeon to overcome the internal technical limitations of conventional laparoscopy, thanks to greater freedom of movement with a range of 560 degrees, excellent magnification of the surgical field from a high-resolution 3D camera and the elimination of tremors in the operator’s hands. It is a safe and well-proven technique in advanced stages of the disease – says Maciej Olszewski, MD, PhD.

– I believed that only this robot is able to deal with all the endometriosis foci that have invaded me over the years. Fortunately, I made the decision to perform the surgery using this technique. During the procedure, it turned out that the surgeons found disease foci not only on the reproductive organs, but also on the intestines and bladder, which, if not removed, constituted the nucleus of a new dose of pain. – recalls Ms Ewelina.

She wants to scream for other women to hear

Ms Ewelina spent money out of her own pocket for endometriosis removal with the da Vinci robot. Today she says that she does not regret any zloty, but also says that she wants to scream so that other women hear her, so that when it “hurts” you cannot assume that it should be like that. To seek help for myself, because endometriosis is a disease that not only destroys health, but also life, affecting relationships and taking away the chance to have children. – I won’t have them anymore. But I survived thanks to my relatives and my partner. It is true that we will only go the two of us through our lives, but I hope that fate will somehow compensate us for it – says Ms Ewelina.

The Endometriosis Treatment Center, which specializes in diagnostics and modern surgical treatment of this disease with the use of the da Vinc robot, has been operating at the Hospital in Klinach in Krakow for over a year.i. Since July 2022, gynecologists performing procedures to remove endometriosis have been using augmented reality that allows them to more safely plan and perform complex procedures to remove deeply infiltrating endometriosis.

– Surgical treatment of deeply infiltrating endometriosis poses significant difficulties for operating physicians due to impaired anatomy in the pelvic organs. In practice, this means that surgery is associated with a high risk of serious intraoperative complications, such as damage to the intestines, bladder and ureters, and large vessels in the small pelvis, as well as late complications such as rectovaginal and vesicovaginal fistulas. The use of holograms based on actual patient data allows for the creation of an internal model of the pelvic organs. Thanks to the support of augmented reality, surgeons gain new possibilities of visualization and presentation of medical data, thanks to which they are able to see and assess adhesions and endometriosis foci, as well as their exact location in relation to other organs, which allows for safe and accurate planning of the operation and reduction of the risk of complications. – explains Maciej Olszewski, MD, PhD.