Discovering the problem-Fall 2005

My medical issue was discovered back in the fall of 2005. I had been experiencing extremely heavy and painful menstrual periods for the past few months. One month during a three week long menstrual period, I was commuting back to the city from my job in Gurnee, screaming and crying because of the painful cramps I was experiencing. The pain would not go away. My roommates came home that evening to find me crying and still in extreme pain. I had called my OB-GYN and the doctor on call said that I needed to go to the emergency room. My roommates brought me to the hospital, where I was given an iv. The doctor did a pelvic exam and complete blood count, which revealed that I was very anemic. He recommended that I follow-up with my regular OB-GYN the next day.

The OB-GYN visit the next day, revealed that the lining of my uterus was as if I was three months pregnant. My doctor did a Dilation and Curettage(D&C) that day to stop the bleeding. The D&C revealed uterine fibroids as the cause of the bleeding and I was referred to a reproductive endocrinologist(RE), named Dr. Angie Beltsos, at Fertility Centers of Illinois(FCI) for further evaluation and treatment. Upon meeting with Dr. Beltsos, a surgery called a myomectomy was scheduled for December 2005. A myomectomy is a surgery to remove uterine fibroids. The type of myomectomy that I had was the least invasive and an out-patient procedure. Dr. Beltsos was able to remove most of the fibroids with this first surgery. After surgery, we decided that we would schedule a second surgery in March 2006 to remove the remaining fibroids. During this second surgery, Dr. Beltsos found a new nest of growing fibroids under some scar tissue from the first surgery. I apparently have many small fibroids that grow on the uterine lining inside of my uterus. They also appear to grow quite quickly. I decided that I would treat the symptoms of my fibroids with a birth control pill and schedule regular saline ultrasounds to monitor the fibroid growth. This would be the course of treatment until I was married and ready to start a family. To learn more about Fertility Centers of Illinois and Dr. Beltsos, follow this link: http://www.fcionline.com/about-fci/meet-our-physicians.html