Endometriosis surgery

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Dr. Geoffrey Cly from Northeast OB/Gyn talks about the surgery done for treating endometriosis.

The surgery video is from NewsChannel 15's Alyssa Ivanson's surgery for diagnosing and treating her endometriosis.

The surgery usually done for endometriosis is called a laparoscopy. It allows surgeons to make small incisions and perform the surgery without a long recovery time.

For my surgery, Dr. Cly removed the endo from my belly button and used that incision to insert a camera about the size of a pencil to see inside my abdomen. He filled my body cavity with carbon dioxide so he could see my organs better.

Dr. Cly looked for endo and took pictures with the camera to document what he found.

"Yours was probably moderate. You had it in your belly button, had some on your bowels and the abdominal areas," Dr. Cly said.

After it was confirmed that I did have endo, he made a second incision to insert more instruments to "clean up" the endo.

"Those are usually small incisions, less than a centemeter, on the left or right side or above the pubic bone. That gives us another hand or instrument to remove, burn off, or laser off the areas of endometriosis," Dr. Cly said.

The device used to burn off the endo looks like tweezers. Electricity goes in one side and out the other side, so what is between the tweezer is getting cauterized.

"The active cells are charred and killed and then the body heals that lesion or area and returns to normal," Dr. Cly said.

The laparoscopic surgery was outpatient and I had a fast recovery. I was walking around feeling pretty normal in just a few days. The weirdest part was having my stomach inflated. I mainly just felt bloated.

I was also sore in my abs for a few days and had to use my arms to help me get up and down from the couch. It felt like I did a thousand cruches all at once!