For several days every month, Shelly
Walkup’s active life came to a complete halt. During these most difficult days,
Shelly says that she experienced intense bleeding that disrupted her ability to
enjoy her children and her exercise routine. “At least two days out of my cycle
I couldn’t do anything,” she adds.
Shelly explains that she wants to lead a
healthy life and, particularly, enjoy every precious day with her children. “I
was losing weight and trying to take care of all my basic health care needs,
but I hadn’t had a Pap smear in five years,” she recalls. “My primary care
physician recommended Dr. Torres.”
Comfortable conversation
Shelly reports that, at the initial
consultation, she was immediately at ease with Wanda I. Torres, MD, of Suncoast
Women’s Care, P.A. “It was a nice conversation, instead of, Okay, what’s wrong? She’s just very
gentle and understanding.”
As they talked, Shelly says she
explained to Dr. Torres how her life virtually stopped because of the heavy
bleeding. Shelly says that Dr. Torres explained several options for relief of
the condition, called menorrhagia.
Dr. Torres notes that, “For patients
experiencing excessive menstrual cycles who are still young, I like to look for
different alternatives to a hysterectomy. If we have treated them with hormones
and they haven’t helped, we can go to the next step, to a procedure called endometrial ablation.”
Painless solution
A procedure that permanently changes the
lining of the uterus, endometrial ablation is a good choice for women who have
tried other solutions for menorrhagia, but who don’t want to take the drastic
measure of having a hysterectomy. It is also important that a woman considering
the procedure should be certain of having no further plans to have children.
Dr. Torres explains: “You are going to
have a pretty good percentage of patients who don’t have any periods at all,
but a successful treatment is to decrease the amount of the bleeding and even
the length of the periods.”
Shelly says she liked what she heard about
the benefits of endometrial ablation.
Dr. Torres specializes in minimally invasive procedures like
endometrial ablation, an outpatient procedure that requires only a local or
spinal anesthesia, though general anesthesia may be used in some cases.
“I went in in the morning to the
Trinity Outpatient Center. The endometrial ablation procedure only took a few
minutes, and afterwards I was fine, I didn’t have any pain, no cramping,” says
Shelly.
Shelly reports that not only did she have very little discomfort during
the procedure, but also the recovery was equally pain free.
“I did have a couple weeks of bleeding, but no cramping, nothing. In fact,
she gave me pain pills that I never even took,” Shelly confirms.
Gentle, quality treatment
“I established my practice in 2002,” Dr.
Torres proudly recalls, “so we’re about to celebrate our ten-year anniversary
in April. Our mission statement is to provide gentle, quality OB/GYN care for
women by women.” She adds, “I’m someone who likes to take my time with patients
and try to explain as much as I can.”
For the last couple of years, Dr. Torres
has been offering da Vinci robotic surgery, which helps her fulfill her mission
to deliver gentle, quality treatment. “The benefit I see for the patient when I
use robotic surgery, for example, with a laparoscopy, is less blood loss and
less pain. The majority of patients go home just taking Tylenol.”
After a short recovery time, Shelly has
resumed her active life.
“After the procedure, I had a few weeks
of general bleeding. Since that time, I’ve not had a heavy period, just a few
days of light spotting.”
Shelly is jogging, swimming, and
bicycling and has added kickboxing to her workout routine. “I’m doing even more
now than before.”
Thanks to the care and encouragement she
received from Dr. Torres and her staff at Suncoast Women’s Care, Shelly is accomplishing
her weight loss goals and is enjoying each and every day of her life – pain
free.
“She is wonderful,” Shelly says of Dr.
Torres. “I love her!”
FHCN – Elizabeth A. Leib