My Essure was placed in February of 2010. After asking for my tubes to be tied tied, I was handed a brochure and told, ‘This is how we do it now.’ Of course, I trusted my doctor and agreed to have it done. A friend had told me that after her procedure she felt fine and was in a restaurant a few hours later enjoying a meal. I was not so lucky.
Five days later I was just beginning to feel like being out of bed. I was not only in pain but I was just weak and sick as well. When I returned for my three month check, I was told that the right side was completely blocked but the left was not and the implant could not be seen. I was scheduled for an MRI a month later. There was still no sign of the implant in the first MRI but after a second, it was located with half in the tube and the other half bent and poking through the lining of my uterus into my body cavity. I was then told that this was a very serious and dangerous situation because it could puncture my intestines or bladder and I could die from the poisons that would be released into my body.
I was scheduled for surgery to repair the damage and remove the implant. After that surgery, I was told that the implant could not be removed but the part that protruded from my tube was cut off and a band was placed around the tube to close it off and prevent pregnancy. I was told that there was no guarantee that the remaining piece of the implant would not migrate further in the future. I was 38 years old at the time with a newborn son. His birth and stay in the NICU had landed me with over $10,000 in doctor bills (with ‘good’ insurance). None of the costs of repairing the Essure problems were covered by the doctor who did this to me. When all was said and done, I had accumulated nearly $22,000 in medical debt between my son’s birth, the initial procedure, MRIs, doctor visits and surgery. I worked with an attorney for a year afterward to try to at least get the repair costs covered and was ultimately told that the only way I could get any remedy would be if the remaining piece of the implant migrated and did serious damage to an organ within the next 10 years. So I now I wait and hope that never happens.
I do have some pain associated with it, but really not enough to complain about. It’s more of an annoyance than anything. I think the thing that bothers me most about this, is that in my research while working with the attorney, I discovered that doctors are given ‘gifts’ by the manufacturer according to the number of these that they implant. I just hope my doctor enjoyed that cruise that cost me so much.