Heartache turned to joy for Gemma Honeyman-Brown after years of agonising endometriosis symptoms were finally treated, letting her dream of being a mother finally come true.
Aged 32, after years of pain and misdiagnosis since her late teens, Gemma decided to seek a second opinion from a consultant gynaecologist Mark Whittaker at Nuffield Health Cheltenham Hospital, to get to the bottom of her symptoms.
She'd spent years going back and forth between GPs and emergency hospital admissions, being told her pain was related to stomach issues and anxiety, but it was her struggle trying to conceive and escalating pain which led her to push for answers.
After trying to conceive for a year, Gemma knew her pain was because of something more serious than stomach issues and she managed to get a referral from the NHS to see Mark.
How did your health journey to become pain-free begin?
When I came across Mark, I felt relieved. I’d spent years going back and forth seeing multiple doctors, but each time I was told there was nothing wrong with me, as my scans always came back fine.
They used to ask me if I was I was just anxious and overthinking the symptoms.
I had chronic left lower abdominal pain for a while and was told to try eliminating diets and a low-FODMAP diet, which didn’t do anything.
I knew something was wrong, so I pushed for a referral and eventually got to see Mark.
At this point, I’d been trying to conceive for a year, so I knew there was something wrong.
Straight away when I saw Mark in clinic, he took me seriously, almost like he understood my pain.
Within a few minutes of explaining my symptoms, he said it sounded like endometriosis.
He was the first specialist who took me seriously and he was very certain which almost gave me a sense of relief.
I was offered hormone treatment to help with the pain but I was worried the treatment would lead to a medically induced menopause and with wanting to conceive I was hesitant to start this treatment.
So the other option was surgery.
After a clear diagnosis and finally some hope, you decided to go for private surgery at Nuffield Health Cheltenham Hospital. What happened next?
I was booked in for my surgery three weeks after I saw Mark. I felt relieved something was finally being done about it.
The ward team was great, I was allowed to have my mum up on the ward with me, which was amazing as I was quite nervous for the surgery, but everyone was so friendly, so it put me at ease.
The surgery went well, he was able to excise the endometriosis and diagnose me with the disease.
Mark came to see me afterwards and told me the surgery was slightly more complicated than expected, because one of my fallopian tubes had died due to complications with the endometriosis, so they also had to remove that in surgery.
He reassured me he was 100 per cent sure the cause of the pain was gone and was very confident I would now be able to get pregnant.
I came out with so much hope and positivity and that was down to Mark being so understanding and pushing for my diagnosis.
The health care assistants on shift were great, they were in and out overnight to check up on me and were there to help when I needed it. They were extremely helpful and couldn’t do enough for me.
You were discharged and sent home to recover after successful surgery. How quickly did you feel better?
Recovery wasn’t nice, I’ll be honest, but I was told myself it was all for a good reason, which made it all worthwhile.
I was in pain, but it was nothing compared to the pain I had been in for years before — it had completely gone, which felt surreal.
I saw Mark for a six-week post-op follow up and I was still experiencing slight pain at this point.
He gave me some advice and just his friendly nature reassured me that everything was okay.
Eight-weeks post-op I fell pregnant with my little boy Louie, who at one-year post-op is now eight weeks old.
I can’t thank Mark enough for his patience, kindness and just believing in me.
He has quite literally changed my life and if I hadn’t pushed for a second opinion and come across him, I wouldn't have got my diagnosis and be here with my baby boy.
To book into see a consultant gynaecologist at the Nuffield Health Cheltenham Hospital, call patient services on 01242 246574.
