Just over four months ago I had surgery to help lessen and hopefully resolve the nerve pain I was having in my stomach. I spent YEARS and thousands in medical care, to which I am still paying, to find answers for which didn’t actually happen until November of 2020 and January of 2021.
Since 2018 I have battled with a pain that was not able to be described with my PCP telling me it was GYN issues (shock it was not), to multiple gyns saying it was gut issues (in their defense my symptoms matched but wasn’t even close), to GI docs telling me that the supposed bug I received in 2018 from a mission trip actually just caused irreparable damage and i was just going to have to “live with it”. None of those answer helped the pain go away, the change in diet didn’t help anything, and the medicine they told me to try was really gross and didn’t change anything either.
The pain was strong, severe, and persistent, but every day I got up and worked at my job and then crashed in the evening. I slept as much as i could but the nights were filled with tossing and turning. There were countless hours of tears shed from the pain and the not knowing if I would ever be able to live the life I once had, honestly I feared that I would become bedridden. At the end of 2020 the pain became so strong that I ended up going to the ER early in November just to be told the same thing every doctor said before that there is nothing wrong with you, that we can find but we think you have a ruptured ovarian cysts, you may have a kidney stone, oh and just for good measure here are some meds for a UTI, just in case.
After taking all the meds resting and feeling a little more normal I started to live my life again thinking maybe they got it this time....WRONG Black Friday I ended up back in the ER due to the pain becoming so bad I couldn’t walk well. I didn’t want to go I didn’t want the medical bill just for another doctor to tell me that I was fine and nothing was wrong....but i’m glad my mom convinced me to go. There we met a Dr. named Matthew Kongkatong.
He was puzzled as everyone before him but he did something different. He pressed on my stomach, pressed on my back and was like, there is nothing medically wrong with you BUT i think you have some kind of structural damage. He said lets try something and the nurse came back with a lidocaine patch, placed it on my back/side and my pain started to fade away. I could have cried.
I go back to my PCP and i get xrays get sent to a spine specialist who tells me you need to go to PT and there isn’t anything wrong with you. I last 2 days in PT and I could barely walk....I was worse than I had ever been....I cried and was like I am done with this I am going to see if I can get an appointment with a doctor who has figured out all of my other issues, Dr. Siobhan Statuta.
I go to see her at the end of January she does a physical exam on me and was like I know your problem, you have nerve damage most likely an entrapped nerve. I was like what?! She said she has a colleague who could do injections that should help resolve the issue but if they don’t work then I would have to have surgery. I was like okay, I trust you, but dont like what you are saying but I trust you.
Dr. Statuta sends me to a doctor by the name of Dr. David Hryvniak who gave me 3 injections over the course of 7 months sent me back to PT, for the insurance but it almost killed me. I suffered for 1 month to just get an MRI, but that is a different issue. At the end of the four weeks, I couldn’t drive my car, I could barely walk and I spent most of my days sitting on the couch or in bed. In September Dr. Hryvniak gave me my last injection which lasted to almost November and I messaged him and told him I couldn’t do this anymore, the injection didn’t last as long and i need a more permanent solution. He sent me the information and a referral to Towson Maryland to a Dr. Eric Williams.
In my gut I knew what was going to happen but I still held on hope that I wouldn’t have to have surgery. I mean after all surgery is pretty darn scary especially when the possibility is the pain could get worse.
Well I saw this Dr. Eric Williams that the doctors kept telling me about and as soon as I saw him I was at peace. Okay that might sound weird but it was a peace in my soul that I knew God had brought this specific doctor into my life for this very reason. There is something about this doctor that was different than the rest. He gave me options reviewed the last four years of my medical history and was perplexed...ish.
We discussed nerve stimulators (not a fan of even trying those to be honest), different kinds of injections, surgery. I opted for the injection, it had truly become my comfort place. He gave me my fourth injection and was like yeah you for sure have a nerve entrapment/damage issue.
The shot wore off after a couple weeks and then I made another appointment in February for a fifth injection which worked for a little less than a week and I just knew that surgery was the next step.
On march 16, 2022 Dr. Williams removed two nerves (Ilioinguinal and Iliohypogastric) in my Lower Left Quadrant and it has changed my life....no it has saved my life. Allowing Dr. Williams to perform surgery on me proved to be the best thing I could have ever done.
Prior to surgery I spent 20+ hours in bed unable to walk. I was taking 4 different pain meds and using lidocaine patches everyday just to be able to walk downstairs to eat. I had heat on 24 hours a day just to be able to sit up in bed and continue to work. I couldn’t drive and was sick on my stomach almost every day.
I remember the day before surgery I walked down to a neighbors house and I sat on a bench and I just cried. Honestly that neighbor has been a saint through everything, I don’t think I would still be doing as well as I am without them, but that is a story for another day.
During that time I cried because I hurt so bad that I truly didn’t know what to do. I had no life, I couldn’t drive to work, I couldn’t even go to church in person cause I hurt so much (if you know me you know that that is truly one of my highlights of the week), and I was trapped in my house unless i forced myself out which made the pain worse, but I didn’t care at that point in my life cause i was going to hurt staying in bed or not and I knew recovery was going to be a beast.
I had no life at all but Dr. Williams gave me my life back. Right now I am able to drive again. I am able to walk 10,000+ steps every day, and I am able to get back to doing what I love! I am still recovering, and there is a lot that I still can’t do but everything is getting easier each day! I hope by March 2023 I will be 100% doing all of the things that I love again without risking reinjuring myself and messing up everything Dr. Williams has done....well within reason.
By Dr. Williams taking out the two nerves that were not working properly he saved my life. He was an answer to prayer when I had lost all hope that I would live a normal life at 30 years old. Dr. Williams is amazing at what he does and I tell everyone I know to go see him if they are having nerve related pain and cannot get the help they need. I think God for him everyday and thank God that he was sent into my life when I needed a miracle.
Dr. Williams is more than a physician he truly cares about his patients before, during, and after any procedure. Not even 24 hours after my surgery he called me to see how I was doing and it was in that moment that I knew that this surgery was different than all of the rest that I have had.
Dr. Williams saved my life so that I can continue to pursue my dreams, hobbies, and life mission of sharing the Gospel of Jesus to the world. Jesus never said that the road we take will be easy and without burdens to bear, but He did say that he would never leave nor forsake us. God tells us that when we are weak (yeah i was pretty weak sitting on that bench crying) that He would give us strength.
My last appointment with him I told him how he had saved my life and the first thing out of his mouth was
I didn’t save your life it was all God who has used me as a way to heal you.
That has stuck with me over the passed few months. How many times has God used us in what we are gifted at to help heal someone else. Maybe not by doing surgery or anything else but maybe just be giving them a listening ear or hug or smile. Maybe just by helping them on a day when they had lost all hope. When have you been on that bench crying (I am sure that is just metaphorical cause all y’all are stronger than me) and someone came to your aid?
If you know them have you told them how they have helped heal you? My guess is probably not, but you should. As I prepare to head back to the hospital that Dr Statuta, Dr. Hryvniak, and Dr. Kongkatong work at I am going to write them each a letter about how they impacted my life and helped me get to Dr. Williams on this crazy painful journey I have been on.
You might feel weird about doing it but it might just be the spark they need to realize that they are doing what God needs them to do and they are right where they belong. Go out and spread the light of God to those who shared it with you!
No matter what I’m always proud of her first #ILoveHer @danniecherie #DrD #DrWilliams #FreckleFace #BlackGirlMagic (at West Oakland, Oakland, California)
#Happy #anniversary #Ghana #60th #independenceday 🇬🇭🔫💣☠👊🏾 #portrait for former former... #Ambassador in #Japan #DrWilliams #Diplomat by me @shokolalife #tbt2012 🎨🇯🇵🗻🌸 omg I already love n practice #signwriting #lettering ...‼️😳 When will #Africa be truly #independent ? When can the rest of the #world stand by themselves without her #sacrifice ? 三月六日はガーナ独立記念日。1957年に独立を勝ち取ってから六十年、アフリカが本当の意味で「独立」できる日はいつ来るのでしょうか。数年前に描いた当時のガーナ大使Dr.ウィリアムさんの肖像。2012年作、私ったらすでに文字入れるの好きだし実践してたのね、どうりでオールマイティ・アコトの絵にハマる訳だわ。
