Thanks to Dr. Seckin and his team, I am pain-free and able to return to work

My life restarted when I met Dr. Tamer Seckin. He is a miracle worker!  For the past 10 years, I have had excruciating pain with Stage IV endometriosis. By the age of 37, I was consulting with a fertility specialist, urologist, neurologist, and gastroenterologist. Over the years, endometriosis blocked my right ureter. I have had over 10 outpatient surgeries to have stents inserted in the hope of saving my kidney.  My urologist recommended a nephrectomy.  More recently, the endometriosis attached to my rectum caused frequent and painful bowel movements.  A nerve was also affected, resulting in numbness and debilitating pain in my right thigh. I have had 4 laparoscopies to address the endometriosis but the pain would recur after a few months. A hysterectomy was recommended.

I researched my condition several times and examined findings from research journals that discussed patients with similar problems who had endometriosis. I made futile efforts to present my newly arising and worsening symptoms and findings from research journals to my doctors but I was dismissed. My fertility specialist did not acknowledge the connection with endometriosis, which I believed was the case because my symptoms would reappear on a monthly basis. Without this connection, my other specialists were working independently, relying on test results (cat scans, MRIs, colonoscopy, EMG, etc.), which were negative. After a recent emergency room visit, numerous negative test results, and a recommendation for pain management, I felt frustrated and helpless. I am a clinical psychologist and was forced to take medical leave from the hospital and had to fast to get through my workday in order to keep my private practice because the pain when I ate was unbearable.

My frustration led me to research for an endometriosis specialist and, fortunately, I found Dr. Seckin. Dr Seckin and his team took the time to listen to my symptoms and make sense of them physiologically. I felt understood. I felt comforted by the fact that I was in the hands of such experienced surgeons and I appreciated their candor with me about my case and the measures to help correct it. Dr. Seckin mentioned that I am in his top 10 for patients with intricate problems due to endometriosis.  I had a nerve problem with pain in my leg, which, if removed, could leave it numb. There was also the possibility of both a ureter and colon resection. Endometriosis had built up on my pelvic wall and I also had fibroids and a hernia from former surgeries.

After an 8-hour surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital with Dr. Seckin and his team two advanced surgeons, the endometriosis was successfully removed without doing resections or severing my nerves. My visit to Dr. Seckin let me know that hope is available and removing a kidney or having a hysterectomy were not options for him at all. I am writing this so that others in a similar situation can find hope that doctors like Dr. Seckin are available to help them with this disease. Thanks to Dr. Seckin and his team, I am pain-free and able to return to work. I am so grateful to Dr. Seckin for giving me back my life. My only regret is not finding him sooner.