Young mother thanks IU Health North team after endometriosis surgery

By Emma Avila, epackard1@iuhealth.org, writer for IU Health’s Indianapolis Suburban Region

Victoria Smith, a young mother of two, credits the surgical and ICU teams at IU Health North for saving her life after she experienced severe complications during surgery for endometriosis.

When Victoria Smith was put under anesthesia for surgery to remove one of her ovaries, she didn’t expect that she would wake up in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Now, she credits the surgical and ICU teams at IU Health North for saving her life.

As a young adult in her mid-twenties, Smith was shocked when she learned she has endometriosis, a disease that occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus, called endometrium, grows outside of the uterus. It can affect the fallopian tubes, ligaments around the uterus, ovaries and other areas. Endometriosis can cause severe pain in the pelvis, painful periods and infertility.

The road to diagnosis

Smith began seeing Dr. Micah Mathai, an obstetrician gynecologist at IU Health North, after she experienced severe pain in her pelvic area. She had already had a partial hysterectomy with another physician after experiencing similar pain after her second child's birth. Dr. Mathai suspected it was endometriosis.

“He explained things well and was personable,” she recalls.

“The symptoms of endometriosis include pelvic pain, menstrual irregularities, pain with intercourse, pain with menses and gastrointestinal issues,” Dr. Mathai explains. “Those symptoms can overlap with multiple other conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome, pelvic inflammatory disease, ovarian cysts and more. This makes it very difficult to diagnose.”

The only way to know for sure if someone has endometriosis is through surgery, most commonly a laparoscopy.

Dr. Mathai scheduled Smith for a diagnostic laparoscopy of the pelvis in February. He let her know that depending on the extent of the endometriosis, he may need to remove her right ovary during the procedure.

“He didn’t know what he would find, but removing the ovary was a possibility,” Smith says.

“The gold standard of endometriosis evaluation and treatment is a diagnostic laparoscopy to visualize implants or lesions and resecting, biopsying or burning them,” Dr. Mathai explains. “Victoria came to me for evaluation due to persistent pain, and I performed a diagnostic laparoscopy with surgical resection and burning of endometriosis lesions."

Unforeseen complications

During the surgery, Dr. Mathai discovered that he would need to remove the ovary.

Unexpectedly, Smith went into respiratory failure and pulmonary edema, which occurs when fluid builds up in the lungs, making it difficult to breathe. While rare, Dr. Mathai and the surgical team were highly trained in the emergency medical care needed to save her life. They worked diligently and stabilized her.

Afterward she was transferred to the ICU.

“I remember waking up in the ICU with a tube in my throat,” she says.

While in the ICU, Smith recalls how well the nursing staff cared for her.

“My family liked all of my nurses,” she says. “They were very caring. None of them ever had a bad attitude.”

Dr. Mathai also visited Smith in the ICU during her stay.

“He had never had one of his patients have complications like that,” she says. “It definitely made our connection as doctor and patient stronger.”

“She was my patient and I felt responsible for her care,” Dr. Mathai adds.

Another surgery

After recovering from her first surgery, Smith returned to IU Health North for Dr. Mathai to perform another diagnostic laparoscopy, this time on her left ovary. He was able to remove the endometriosis without removing the ovary.

Smith is currently recovering from the procedure. And although she has undergone so much this year, the overwhelming feeling she experiences is gratitude.

She is grateful to her care team for saving her life and allowing her to continue being a mother to her two young children, both under the age of five.

“Everybody at the hospital has just been great,” she says. “And I’m very lucky to be here.”