Ep. 211: Bethany's "One & Done" Endo Surgery for RPL with RESTORE Endometriosis (Client Story)

After repeated pregnancy losses without answers, and trying every natural remedy from supplements to diet to cleanses, Bethany went in search of new options. She wanted the best of the best, but where could she even begin looking? It was her husband that first suggested, "Maybe we should start by addressing your period pain. That isn't normal." (Way to go, husband!) That conversation led her to working with Dr. Patrick Yeung at Restore Endo Clinic and finally getting the dignified care--and treatment--she has long deserved. Hear Bethany's story and be sure to go back to listen to Dr. Yeung himself share about his clinic and his technique.

NOTE: This episode does discuss early pregnancy loss.

SHOW NOTES:

**Don't miss last week's episode with Dr. Yeung: Ep. 210: What to Look for in an Endometriosis Surgeon for a "One and Done" Surgery, with Dr. Patrick Yeung

Ep. 10: Endometriosis 101

Ep. 11: Ikea's Story – Endometriosis

Ep. 139: Preventing scarring, adhesions, and repeat endometriosis surgery, with Dr. Naomi Whittaker

Transcript

Caitlin Estes (00:25)
Welcome back to the Woven Well podcast. Have you ever known that something was wrong with your cycles or hormones, but you didn't have the answers that you needed? Maybe your doctors ignored you or only offered you birth control when what you wanted was to fix the problem, not silence the symptoms. Being stuck like this can be infuriating or devastating. Where can you go for help? And will it be worth the effort involved to get there?

Caitlin Estes (00:51)
Well, here at Woven Well, we want to help women who find themselves in situations like this by providing them with the education that they need, the skills for advocating for themselves, and the resources that they deserve to get the care that they deserve. But I've found that for most of us, we need a bit of hope before we can gather the courage to take that first step. That's why each month we talk with real women who have been on a similar journey, to allow them to share their story and the difference education, advocacy, and the right resources made in their own lives. Well, today I'm talking with Bethany, a farmer's wife and mother of three who in her own words, pursues health and abundant living in all aspects of her life. Bethany, welcome to the show.

Bethany (01:33)
Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here.

Caitlin Estes (01:36)
I'm glad that you're here as well and I'd love for our listeners to learn just a little bit about yourself, anything you'd like to share with us.

Bethany (01:44)
Well, like you said, I'm a farmer's wife. We live out in Oregon on a beautiful fifth generation organic family farm. And I am definitely very passionate about pursuing health in all aspects of our lives.

Caitlin Estes (01:58)
That desire to want to live an organic life, so to speak. Obviously that's important to you. I'm interested in how that's going to come up in the conversation that we're going to have today because

I've invited you to share a little bit of your story with your reproductive health journey. So maybe we can start with a little bit of background. or what your journey has looked like. Where did it start?

Bethany (02:23)
Yeah, absolutely. So our journeys had lots of twists and turns unexpectedly. My husband and I have been married for 12 years. And comically enough, when we got married, he was the one who brought it to my attention of like, hey, I don't think this is normal. I think you need to maybe try some different things because oftentimes my cycles were very, very irregular. They were painful, but I'll be honest, I never expected the diagnosis that we got. I think it's because in part, I just assumed a lot of what I experienced, everyone experienced on one level or another. And that's part of being a woman is having cramps periods. Who can tell you when your period is gonna be like? And so really what started our journey to actually seeking answers was, it started with GI issues for me, and I never could find answers. We looked a lot of different places for it. And I really wanted to have a root cause answer. I really wanted root cause solutions.

Caitlin Estes (03:30)
Yeah, I love so much that it was your husband who first said, I'm not sure this is normal.

And so you mentioned pursuing a lot of different things to try to get those answers. What were some of the things that you attempted over the years?

Bethany (03:47)
So I will say some things helped. We really devoted ourselves to pursuing health and that started with our diet. And so I cut out refined sugars. Not to say I never had any sweets again. We use a lot of honey and maple syrup and other more natural sweeteners.

That helped with the GI symptoms. Didn't like completely eliminate them, but definitely helped. The less processed food I was eating, the less frequently I would have these flares. And so that was good. We did different cleanses.

I'm not a very public person. But after we announced the loss of our second baby, we had a one miscarriage note when we were pregnant. We didn't tell anyone about the loss. And then we'd gotten pregnant again. We were further along when we announced. And we lost that baby as well. And then there's that awkward situation of now people know something's wrong.

And so people started, of course, coming, some with genuinely trying to be helpful solutions, But they would come with, hey, maybe you should try this cleanse. Maybe you should reach out to this nature path. Maybe you should do this or that. Try this supplement. So-and-so took this supplement and they were pregnant in three months. And all of those types that I have heard repeatedly over the years. And I've tried a lot of them. But through that process of trying so many different things, I will say I've kind of learned how to address the natural side, which I am an organic farmer. I am a health enthusiast. I love that. think the natural world has so much to offer. However, I will also say there's a little understand what they're dealing with and so they like try to throw out just here take this supplement and it can be very defeating and frustrating as the person who is actually going through it. Lavender's just really not going to fix this. You know, there's sometimes you need something a little stronger. and that's just the reality of it. I did a lot health wise as far as exercising. and eventually we found out, ⁓ it was after our fourth miscarriage, we found out that my body's not producing progesterone. And so that felt like at the time, like a huge, just like puzzle piece that was unlocked of like, oh, okay, so this is why we are not conceiving easily.

You know, it doesn't help to beat myself up over the fact my body's not producing progesterone and that feels very broken when it's something that everybody else's body is doing on its own.

So when I started taking the prescription, at least while pregnant, I would take the prescription. was able to have three babies that way. And I thought, you know, really the work is behind us. That's a closed chapter. We're done with that and we can move forward.

And yeah, I was still having painful periods and irregular cycles and different things coming up. But honestly, that was just a way of life for me. And to some degree, like I said, this is what normal women deal with. it was not until we had another miscarriage just about almost two years ago now. And that just completely blindsided me, and it was very, very difficult because I was taking the prescription. I was doing all the supplements. I was trying to stay active as much as I could. I'm doing all the right things. I'm drinking my water. I'm doing all of the right things that we're supposed to do. And when I started to miscarry, I...

I thought, okay, now we're gonna focus on healing. Now I'm going to spin the next, before I get pregnant again, I'm gonna find the answer. Why can't my body produce progesterone? Why am I in this situation? Why did this even happen? And I hired a really lovely team of nutritionists and fertility doctors, naturally minded fertility doctors to kind of help us walk us through it. And... ⁓

Unfortunately, over the progression of the year that we were working with, my symptoms got worse and worse and worse. I finally was just so frustrated. He's like, yeah, you're right. This isn't normal.

Caitlin Estes (07:45)
Hmm.

Bethany (07:48)
And he pointed out, but you know what's also not normal? The fact that you're in pain. Like why are you in pain? And I was like, yeah, that's just normal. He's like, not. Normal people don't walk around in pain every day. And he told me the normal threshold for pain is zero. Like no, that's not, I think you're, I don't think that's real. And he's like, no, can promise you it is. And that was just mind boggling to me. And one of the consultants actually she was like, I think you need to look into endometriosis. And I was they talk about, you know, being on their bathroom floor and pain unable to move every month when their cycle comes. That's not me. Whether, why that is, I don't know. I work through my pain. That's how I cope with pain.

Caitlin Estes (08:32)
Hmm.

Bethany (08:33)
I use distraction as my pain coping method, but because I can distract myself, I think that led me to believe that my symptoms weren't legitimate. Like, yeah, I can still work through it, but also I don't have a choice. Like, I'm running a farm, animals have to get fed, things die if I don't show up to work. So I think maybe that also led to the belief that, it really can't be something that serious. Maybe it's on my head, maybe I just have a really low pain tolerance.

Bethany (09:00)
And so I started researching endometriosis. Some of the symptoms seemed like they lined up. And I will be honest, there was a struggle of emotions between the time that I started learning about endometriosis and the time that we had our surgery.

The doubts, the questions, it's a little bit annoying as a client to say that the only way to know for sure if you have this thing is to do a surgery. When you're talking to somebody who's very naturally minded and you tell them surgery is the only option to get diagnosed, well that just feels really invasive. And so that was one hurdle to get over of like, okay. If surgery is the only way to get diagnosed, okay, what are my real options? And then when I get diagnosed, do I have to do surgery to try to hopefully get relief? And so there was a lot that worked, that I think really God worked in my heart during that time of a lot of fear and So I had to really work through a lot of that. Okay, if I'm gonna do this, what is the best way to go about it? I did a ton of research. I talked with other people who had gone through things that were similar, who went through.

Endometriosis excision surgery, what their experiences were, why are some women having five or six excision surgeries and others saying that they had a done surgery? Like what is the difference between those and that? Yeah, I definitely want to be the one and done person. Like how can I do that? And then there's also the mental aspect of, okay, what if they do the laparoscopy and they don't find anything? Then I'm left here with still no answers. And so that was also another act.

I'm so concerned because surgery isn't cheap. recovery is a whole process. Even if you didn't find anything, you still got to recover from the same surgery. And so there's just so many different levels of things that were playing into it. But one big aspect is there is we live in a medical wasteland of where I live. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of options. There's not a lot of great care. And so we had to travel to find someone that I felt like was suitable. And that was even an option. We interviewed a few different doctors. I reached out to several clients. And another aspect that just adds to the layer of complexity is everybody's booked out months. Like, not even just months, but like some were, you know, October. We're booking into October already, the end of October before we can even get you in for a consult. And they're like, okay. Well, that's also defeating because...

I want to be done with this, like as quickly as possible. I want to move on to my next chapter of life. I don't want to keep reliving the same story.

Caitlin Estes (11:48)
I appreciate you sharing this because these are just so real. You know, all of your concerns and your questions. I just think about how many other ladies feel these same things leading up to that. Even the idea of surgery and all the research that's involved. It can feel really heavy. Obviously, you did that research, you spent the time and then you were ready for surgery. You you wanted it to happen.

⁓ I know that you wanted the one and done surgery. Dr. ⁓ Patrick Yeung talks a lot about the one and done surgery and his approach to that. And we had an episode last week. They talked about how he can offer that type of surgery for endometriosis. so I'm sure our listeners are curious, you know, what did they discover during that surgery? What happened? What was the end result there?

Bethany (12:33)
Yeah, so that was really amazing. Their clinic, ⁓ I sent them an email in December and just kind of asked for a Christmas miracle. And I said, if there's any way we're going to be traveling to visit family in your area and if there's any way you can fit us in in December or January, please let me know. Put me on your cancellation list. And I got a call back about two days later saying, we have something. And so I was like, my goodness, okay, we're actually doing this. And that was kind of my thing. was like, have to, this is my like, if this doesn't work out, then we're not gonna keep struggling with this. We're not gonna keep fighting this. I'm just gonna move on.

Caitlin Estes (13:01)
Wow.

Bethany (13:09)
And so he's very like, oh, okay, so we're moving forward with this direction. Okay, so buckle up. we went into Dr. Yeung's office. His whole staff was incredible. They were just incredibly kind, incredibly professional and informed and just above and beyond care. I was just blown away. And really one thing that just leading into the surgery that day we had a consult in the morning with him and then our surgery later. I'm in the morning and in his office he has a scripture that says Jeremiah 29 11 for I know the plans that I have for you says the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you and to give you a hope and a future in it. that moment it just gave me so much peace going into the surgery. okay I'm not in this alone.

It's all gonna work out. And I just had so much peace and confidence in that. I was just so thankful. We did our surgery, we ended up using the surgery clinic. There's usually a couple of options. I noticed a lot of surgeons offer a clinic or a hospital and the clinic is cheaper. So we went with that and their care was again phenomenal. Everyone there was amazing.

I woke up from the surgery and one of the nurses asked, hey, do you want to see your husband? And I said, yes, please. And as soon he walked in, I asked him, was like, hey, did they find anything? And he said, yes. And they got it all. And I did not expect to get emotional, but I did. I started to cry a little bit. wasn't feeling like, great, now I have endometriosis. Now I have this incurable disease, as they call it. It was honestly just tears of relief and like validation of, one, I did not waste my money on this surgery, and two, and two, it was all real. It wasn't just in my head. In fact, Dr. Yeung said, actually, it was worse than I thought. Like, given how you described your symptoms, I didn't expect it to be quite this bad. It was stage, between stage two and three, there was a lot of webbing,
starting to pull my organs different directions and that kind of froze into the stage three category a bit. But he was able to remove it all very safely and he, one of the big aspects of why we chose Dr. Yeung is we talked to him about like, would like to preserve my fertility as much as possible. I have had friends who went in and had the excision surgery and they walk out without their tubes. And it's like, okay, that's not an option for me.

Bethany (15:35)
I don't want that. Even if there is endometriosis on my tubes, I'd rather keep them. And that was my choice that I wanted to make. And he respected that and he honored that and he very much had a similar goal. And I mean he has done thousands and thousands of surgeries and that also just gave me the confidence and the skill of the surgeon. We had interviewed other surgeons that were very dedicated and wonderful people but this was only their like two to three hundredth surgery. And I was like, I don't know that I feel comfortable.

Caitlin Estes (15:55)
Yeah.

Bethany (16:04)
I need to feel like you really know what you're doing because it is such a complex surgery and it's such a complex disease. And I in some ways felt like this is my one chance and I'm not going to end up on the hospital again. Even if you don't get everything, I'm not putting myself under this again. And so this is kind of just like my rules that I had for myself. And so just to hear that it wasn't all in your head. This was real and it was actually causing damage. Like this was a severe thing that we needed to address and we were able to address it. We were able to get it all. We didn't have to leave it. That was just one of the most relieving things to hear. And genuinely, as odd as it sounds, for the first time in my life after that surgery, I stopped hating my body. And I use that a little bit loosely.

Caitlin Estes (16:45)
Yeah.

Bethany (16:58)
I can't say I hated my body because I don't think that's healthy. I know that's not honoring to the Lord. I am a believer and that definitely impacts my fertility journey a lot. And so can't say that I hated hating myself, but I definitely resented my body in some ways. I felt like it was broken, like it was letting me down, like it was letting my husband down. We'd always dreamed of having this big beautiful baby. Here I was losing baby after baby and just the heartbreak of that, frustration of it, and to go through this and hear that, your body was doing an amazing job keeping you alive. Your body was fighting something invisible. You didn't know that it was going on, but it was very legitimate. And that was very just validating to hear. And genuinely, I'm almost, not quite, I'm almost, one month post-op. The recovery has been beautifully smooth. I've been very thankful for it. I have been able to go through it with very minimal pain in comparison to what I've dealt with in years past. And that's a blessing in itself. And genuinely just the relief, I feel so light-hearted and just so thankful that I don't feel broken. For the first time in my life, I don't feel like working against me and I just really am just so thankful for the experience that Dr. Yeung was able to provide us with during this whole process.

Caitlin Estes (18:31)
Well, that is such an encouraging story and I really appreciate you sharing all of it, both the physical and also the emotional and the mental and spiritual, because it is, you know, our whole selves that we bring to a journey like this. And I'm so glad that the surgery with Dr. Yeung's office went well and you're recovering well and you're having this really beautiful experience on the other side of it.

I know our listeners appreciate it as well. So thank you so much for being on the show today.

Bethany (19:02)
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate you giving me this opportunity.

Caitlin Estes (19:06)
Listeners, have lots of resources related to endometriosis, so be sure to look in our show notes for those links. As always, thanks for listening as we continue to explore together what it means to be woven well.