Breaking free

WESTERN BUREAU:

After multiple pregnancy losses, 41-year-old Shelly-Ann Nelson faced what she described as her worst nightmare in January 2021: she learned that fibroids were the cause of her uncontrollable bleeding.

“I was told five years earlier that I had nothing to worry about if the fibroids weren’t causing me any issues,” the rental clerk from Portland shared with The Sunday Gleaner.

“But my monthly period turned into a daily ordeal. I was bleeding in a way no woman should have to experience,” she recalled. “The hospital staff knew me well; the moment they saw me, they recognised exactly why I was there. That’s how severe it had become.”

Nelson found herself relying on maternity pads, as even wearing a single sanitary pad was not an option – she needed to use two or three combined.

“Yet that was still not enough.”

Her condition worsened and became unbearable, she reflected.

“At that point, I was at the brim; I could not bear it anymore. I remember not being able to go to work for months because I could not afford to face the embarrassment anymore. I could be here with you, and then by the next minute, everything would be at my feet.”

The situation was compounded by painful blood clots. When they couldn’t be expelled, Nelson had to remain at the public hospital until the doctors released her.

“Because when the clots couldn’t pass out, that’s where the bad feelings started taking me. I was in an AC (air-conditioned) room, and sweat would still be washing me. That’s how bad it was. In no time, you’d see me on the floor because I was blacking out,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

She fell into a state of depression, unsure of what to do as she endured blood transfusion after blood transfusion.

One day at work, she met Karen Chin, a member of interventional radiologist Dr Kurt Gabriel’s team. By that point, Nelson feared she would die and leave her only child, a son, to suffer.

“But Karen encouraged me advising me not to worry, as I would be alive to take care of him,” Nelson recalled.

The fibroids had left Nelson so weak that she struggled to get out of bed without resting halfway.

“I remember my blood level went as far down as three, and I was rushed to emergency,” she said.

When she returned to Kingston, Chin reached out with a video explaining uterine fibroid embolisation (UFE), a procedure that Gabriel specialises in and has performed on many women at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

“Honestly, I did not know what the process was. It sounded really new to me, but at the end of the day, all I wanted to know was that I was getting better. I wanted to be free of wearing sanitary pads. I wanted to make sure that I could go to the bathroom without somebody standing up and watching me because of how weak I was. I was just overwhelmed. I couldn’t take it anymore.”

After undergoing the UFE, Nelson feels grateful to Gabriel and his team.

“After the surgery, I spent the night, and I went home the following day. Within two days after surgery, I was able the climb into my bed without someone helping me,” she said with relief.

Now, she enjoys normal menstrual cycles and no longer has to carry bags of clothes for potential mishaps. Having undergone the procedure in February, her embarrassment has vanished. So satisfied is she that she rates Dr Gabriel and his team a remarkable 9.5 out of 10 –”because nobody’s perfect, but I would give my experience with my surgery a 10.”

In contrast to her previous three surgeries, Nelson returned to work within a week and was fully functional within two weeks.

“It was my first time ever hearing of uterine embolisation surgery. ... I did so much research, I asked so many questions, and I just want to say to Dr Gabriel and his team, thank you. My life has been restored.”

She adds: “There are so many things I can tell you that I have not done over the past two years. Just imagine I lived three minutes from the beach and couldn’t go in the water. I can now.”

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com