'Doctors removed seven fibroids from my womb after ‘Nation’ story'

After spending three hours and 20 minutes in surgery at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) where seven fibroids were removed from Lucia Ayiela’s uterus, she was wheeled into the recovery room as her mother looked on.

The procedure was scheduled at no cost by the hospital after Healthy Nation highlighted Lucia’s plight.

Fibroids are a non-cancerous growth within the muscle of the uterus.

They are common, affecting about half of all women at some stage in their lives, usually during the reproductive years.

Dr Felix Oindi, a consultant obstetrician gynaecologist who specialises in laparoscopic/hysteroscopic surgery and a team of doctors came to the rescue of Lucy, a digital content creator who for the last 15 years has had to live with bouts of paralysing pain that usually get her bed-ridden for days.

Lucia, 31, underwent the surgery to remove the fibroids on May 28.

A few days later, she sent Healthy Nation a text message:  “Hey, been dealing with post operation complications, my chest has been on fire so much that speaking was a task, I am doing better now.”

“Currently, a girl is back home recovering under mama’s care, a very big thank you to Caroline Mumbi of the patient’s welfare department for making this process smooth. To Leon Lidigu because this would not have been possible without you, you are my shujaa, asante sana!” Lucia said in a tweet while letting the social media community know that all had gone well.

According to doctors at AKUH, depending on the size, location and symptoms caused by the fibroids, different treatment options are available.

“Medical treatment with tablets/injections reduces levels of certain hormones such as oestrogen and causes fibroids to shrink. However, these can cause menopause symptoms and can only be taken for about six months. Therefore, they may be an option for women nearing menopause.”

The experts further explain that they perform a number of surgical procedures based on what the patient needs as per test results.  

Hysterectomy is a surgical procedure sometimes recommended where a patient has completed child-bearing and has large fibroids. It involves an open abdominal cut to remove the entire uterus. “In certain patients, it is possible to remove the uterus via the vagina using key-hole surgery (avoiding the need for an open cut and, therefore, resulting in a quicker recovery). It is effective in essentially all cases in which bleeding and pressure symptoms are a problem. However, it is more invasive than other treatments with a longer recovery time,” the doctors explain.

 Doctors might also opt for what they call myomectomy, which is the procedure they performed on Lucia. It is a surgical procedure in which only the fibroids are removed, leaving the rest of the uterus intact.

This can be performed through various methods including traditional surgery (involving an open cut), key-hole surgery and hysteroscopic resection (involving a telescope in the vagina and uterus). Myomectomy can be performed for certain types of fibroids and preserves the potential for childbearing.

The third procedure is called Uterine Fibroid Embolisation (UFE).

This is a non-surgical treatment for women who want to avoid a traditional surgical procedure (or who are deemed high risk for surgery) in which the blood supply to the fibroids is blocked off, causing the fibroids to shrink. All the fibroids are treated in the same procedure. “The success rate of UFE is up to 95 per cent  with a very low recurrence rate long term. As this procedure involves no open cut, you can resume normal activity quite fast,” Dr Timona Obura, a consultant obstetrician gynaecologist and Dr Ravjit Sagoo, a consultant interventional radiologist at AKUH explain.

Once back on her feet, Lucia plans to embark on using her digital creativity to create more awareness on fibroids. “Regrowth of the fibroids is always a risk, but am exploring a couple of natural and herbal remedies to prevent that now that my mother has hope of getting some grand children,” she says.

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