Atlanta’s Endo Whisperer
People travel from all over the world to see this guy. His name has appeared in more conversations, articles and social media comments than any other name I’ve read in the past two years. So when it was my turn to see him, I wanted to take our photo together.
I’m talking about Dr. Ken Sinervo, the surgeon that removed up to 4 decades of Endo growth from my abdomen and collaborated with thoracic surgeon Dr. John Gouldman to remove life-threatening Endo from my diaphragm. Since this surgery, 6 months ago, I have no respiratory symptoms, and I feel safe from the recurring lung collapse that once plagued me. I can breathe without fear.
That was my goal, to receive his highly skilled care and to be saved from an ongoing chest-tube nightmare, ongoing ER visits, and all the lung panic during a lung pandemic.
I can write about this now because 6 months was the benchmark. It took 6 months after my first lung surgery, not performed by Dr. Sinervo, for another lung collapse to return. I feel confident I am out of this danger-zone today.
There was also a secondary goal to this surgery, to see if removing the diffused Endo from my abdominal area would increase my likelihood of conceiving. For several years I had been trying to become pregnant. When I asked, a fertility specialist told me that I did not have Endometriosis, but without ever conducting the diagnostic laparoscopy necessary to deny it.
Dr. Sinervo was the first surgeon to perform a laparoscopy on me, and the pathology tests absolutely offered a concrete Endo diagnosis. And this is why Endo is so truly terrible: it is passed over by medical professionals, like the fertility specialist, as if it were not a true threat.
I knew my chances of having Endo were more than likely. Women in my family have Endo, but the story was that it would go away after becoming pregnant. I wasn’t ready for that step till my mid-30s, but by then my womb may have been an ‘inhospitable’ environment for conception. Inhospitable is a crappy word sometimes used in this context. I still have to live here. But, I digress.
There are two very human moments with Dr. Sinervo that I remain grateful for. Before surgery, he held my hand and prayed over me. He asked God to heal me, and that prayer included my respiratory health, my reproductive health, and so much more. We were asking a higher power to intercede even as we put our faith in science.
Secondly, Dr. Sinervo came to see me in my hospital room the day after surgery. I was highly medicated with my chest tube in, and my mind was still preoccupied with my infertility issue. I asked him if all the Endo we found in my abdomen was the reason why I couldn’t get pregnant. He believed it contributed to the problem, and now — maybe — there would be a chance that pregnancy was possible, since that Endo was removed.
At this point in time, I have still never been pregnant. But, I also do not wreck my head trying to understand the unsolved mystery behind that. Dr. Sinervo also indicated that I may have Adenomyosis, a disease that effects the uterus, makes pregnancy a bigger challenge, and is often is resolved by hysterectomy. This one is even more difficult to diagnose, but I believe there’s a strong possibility based on his expert knowledge.
Dr. Sinervo is the only medical professional ever to share the word ‘Adenomyosis’ with me. It’s as if every OBGYN in my life went to great lengths to overlook these diseases that eventually would dominate my life direction.
I moved to Atlanta so I could receive this care. If Dr. Sinervo was working in Siberia, I’d be in Siberia. That’s how much I believe in this doctor.
