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Fertility Surgery, A Love Story

– Ljubica S and Aleksandra – Ashburn, VA

Ljubica and Aleksandra
Ljubica & Alexsandra meeting for the first time. October 2014

Ljubica welcomed little Aleksandra on October 24, 2014. Holding her little girl was a dream come true. Like all beautiful stories, Ljubica’s was not without heartache. For several years, she and her husband had tried fertility treatments unsuccessfully.

Part of the treatment involved taking hormones to increase the chances of conception with each intrauterine insemination (IUI). This is a normal part of the treatment, but with some women, the additional hormones can encourage fibroids to grow. Often these fibroids can become another barrier to conception, depending on their location. In Ljubica’s case, she required surgery to remove the fibroid before beginning the more expensive option, in vitro fertilization (IVF). In addition, she also had a uterine polyp.

“After 3 failed attempts at trying to conceive a child, you begin to emotionally prepare yourself for the possibility that it may never happen,” said Ljubica. “Even with the heartache of the treatments not working, my gut told me to get the polyp removed, even though my fertility doctor said it wasn’t necessary.”

Fertility Surgery at CIGC Can Improve Success Rates for Women Trying to Conceive

In many fertility surgery techniques, there is the possibility of damaging the uterus with a myomectomy or polyp removal. Those injuries can also affect a woman’s ability to conceive and carry a child to term. However, with the minimally invasive LAAM and DualPortGYN procedures used by the surgical specialists at The Center for Innovative GYN Care, fibroidspolyps, and other conditions that affect fertility can be treated safely without damaging the uterus.

Women who have surgery at CIGC recover faster, so they can begin additional fertility treatments sooner. After she had a LAAM procedure for her fibroid and then the subsequent polyp removal, Ljubica was finally ready to begin the more expensive IVF treatments.

In Ljubica’s case, additional treatments were unnecessary.

After both surgeries, Ljubica was cleared to begin IVF treatments in February. While IVF has better rates of success than IUI, it is also 10x more expensive. That requires planning and choosing the right time. For Ljubica and her husband, they decided that April would be when the treatments would start.

Ljubica fertility surgery
Ljubica S, Getting ready to welcome her little girl into the world.

However, by the end of March, Ljubica was already pregnant with Aleksandra .

“I had to follow my gut instincts about getting the additional surgery to remove the polyp, and I’m so glad I did! Any woman should explore all of the options. They owe it to themselves to get a different opinion.”

Robotic Surgery Was out of the Question For Ljubica

“Even after visiting my family doctor back in Serbia while I was visiting my family, he agreed that I needed surgery to remove the fibroid.”

Robotic surgery was then recommended by her fertility doctor back in the United States.

“I don’t want a doctor using a robot to work on me. I want a human being there, present, and able to react if something happens. Women need to have options. They need to know from others who have had procedures to be able to tell them ‘This is what you don’t want to have and why.'”

“I want to encourage other women to explore all possibilities. I know now what a gift Aleksandra is. You don’t fully realize it until you hold her in your arms. I need to thank Dr. MacKoul and his colleagues for helping me have my little girl.”

CIGC Surgeons DR. Natalya Danilyants and Dr. Paul MacKoul

CIGC surgeons Natalya Danilyants MD and Paul MacKoul MD are fellowship trained GYN specialists. They founded The Center for Innovative GYN Care to ensure women had a minimally invasive alternative to open or robotic gynecologic procedures.

Book a Consultation

Surgical specialists can often see patients sooner because they are focused entirely on surgery. Each patient gets detailed, in depth attention from Dr. Danilyants and Dr. MacKoul. This personalized care helps patients understand their condition and the recommended treatment so that they can have confidence from the very start. Our surgeons have performed over 20,000 GYN procedures and are constantly finding better ways to improve outcomes for patients.

Book a consultation today with Dr. Paul MacKoul, MD or Dr. Natalya Danilyants, MD.

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CIGC TRAVEL PROGRAM

CIGC travel program

Even if you are not from the DC area, many patients travel to The Center for Innovative GYN Care for our groundbreaking procedures. We treat women from around the world who suffer from complex GYN conditions.

Learn more in our travel program.