Advertisement It wasn’t supposed to happen. It was a fluke, and it could have been a tragedy for her and her baby. But it turned out just fine — and it made history.
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The 37-year-old Fountain City woman had only the second child ever reported born in the world after microwave endometrial ablation or MEA, an alternative surgery to hysterectomy.
Her physician, Dr. Janice Alexander, a Franciscan Skemp-Arcadia obstetrician-gynecologist, recently presented the case to the Global Congress of Minimally Invasive Gynecology meeting in Las Vegas.
“I just don’t know a lot about the significance of this birth, but it was special to us,” Wolfe said. “This Thanksgiving will be special, but every day is special.”
Wolfe’s surgery was a relief, and her pregnancy was full of fear, worry, joy and gratitude.
It all started two Christmases ago when Wolfe didn’t feel well enough to attend Mass — she was curled up in a fetal position because of immense pain from her monthly menses.
She had been been battling menstrual pain and excessive bleeding for some time. She had tried medication, but it didn’t help much. Alexander had recommended MEA to relieve Wolfe’s symptoms.
That Christmas Eve,Wolfe said, she made the decision to have the surgery. In January 2007, Alexander performed the surgery to cauterize the vessels in Wolfe’s uterus.
With the surgery, Wolfe knew the odds were slim she could get pregnant again, and if she did, it could be life-threatening to her and her child.
“We didn’t want any more children so we were fine with the procedure,” Wolfe said. She and her husband, Brian, already had three sons, Cody, 16, Andrew, 14, and Dylan, 9.
Alexander said less than 1 percent of women actually get pregnant after having the surgery, and most of those pregnancies are tubal and terminated.
Wolfe said she felt better after surgery and didn’t give pregnancy another thought. That is, until September 2007, when she suspected she was pregnant. An at-home pregnancy test confirmed her suspicions.
“I was so scared because I knew this pregnancy may have to end,” Wolfe said.
Later that month, Wolfe had an ultrasound to determine whether the embryo was in her Fallopian tubes or in her uterus. “Lo and behold, this baby was exactly where it needed to be,” she said. “Once again, we were shocked.”
Wolfe said her pregnancy actually was healthier than her three previous pregnancies. At the same time, it seemed like a long one, not knowing whether the outcome would be successful.
“It was hard to bond with the little life growing inside me, for I feared at any time I may lose him,” Wolfe said. “I prayed each night and thanked God for allowing me to remain pregnant one more day.”
Alexander said she watched Wolfe’s pregnancy “like a hawk.”
On March 11, Wolfe went to the Arcadia clinic where Alexander determined she was in labor, although she was only 32 weeks along in her pregnancy. Wolfe’s husband drove her to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
“I didn’t believe I was in labor, and I wanted to go home,” Wolfe said. But her contractions were three minutes apart, and she delivered a baby by emergency Caesarean section.
Isaac was born at 5 pounds, 5 ounces, and was eight weeks premature. He was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit.
The reason the pregnancy was successful after the MEA procedure was because the placenta implanted in the top of Wolfe’s uterus, where good tissue remained, Alexander said.
“That is what saved the pregnancy,” she said. “The uterus didn’t contract normally. The lower uterine segment ballooned.”
Wolfe said she and her husband spent countless hours in the hospital, just holding Isaac after his premature birth. “Once again I put my faith in God and prayed for our baby to come home,” she said.
He did, on March 28.
“Let’s put it this way, I got a few gray hairs worrying about this baby,” Alexander said. “I’m grateful that everything turned out OK. Lisa had a lot of faith and people praying for her.”
Isaac is now 8 months old and a healthy baby. He is in the 95th percentile for growth and development, Wolfe said.
“Our doctors continue to be amazed at the progress Isaac has made,” Wolfe said. “I know in my heart that God was by our side through this entire pregnancy.”
MICROWAVE ENDOMETRIAL ABLATION
WHAT IS IT? Endometrial ablation is a minimally invasive surgery that can be a viable alternative to hysterectomy. Endometrial ablation is a procedure that uses a lighted viewing instrument (hysteroscope) and other instruments to destroy (ablate) the uterine lining, or endometrium. Endometrial ablation can be done by laser beam, heat, electricity, freezing and microwave. Microwave endometrial ablation uses microwave energy to treat excessive menstrual bleeding by destroying tissue lining the uterus (womb). A long slender tube that delivers microwave energy is inserted into the uterus to destroy tissue. Treatment typically lasts 3½ minutes and generally is painless.
WHEN IS IT USED?: This device is intended for pre-menopausal women whose child-bearing is completed and who have a condition called menorrhagia, in which there is excessive uterine bleeding.
HOW SUCCESSFUL? The MEA system was shown to successfully reduce menstrual bleeding to normal levels one year after treatment in about 87 percent of women in a clinical study. In about 55 percent of women, menstrual bleeding was totally stopped.
Source: Food and Drug Administration
sillyme wrote on Nov 26, 2008 10:25 AM: