20 DOCTORS TO GET DIAGNOSED
Kyla took drastic steps in order to get treatment
Kyla Grimmond, 17, Hammond Park, WA
This is agony, I thought, curled up in bed at home. Aged 15, I’d recently had an operation to remove an ovarian cyst.
It was the second time I’d had a cyst removed, and on this occasion I’d needed my appendix out too. The procedure was supposed to ease my terrible pains, but it hadn’t made any difference.
‘I feel like I’m being repeatedly stabbed,’ I cried to my mum, Kasia, 38.
In all, I saw 20 doctors before I was finally referred to a pain specialist who diagnosed my mystery pain.
‘You have ACNES – Abdominal Cutaneous
Nerve Entrapment Syndrome,’ he explained.
He told me that my second surgery had left me with trapped nerves in my abdomen.
The condition could sometimes affect women who’d had C-sections and other invasive procedures.
I was thrilled to know what was wrong – but my happiness was short-lived.
‘There’s nothing I can do. You just have to manage the pain with paracetamol,’ he said.
I was stunned. It hurt so much I could barely walk!
‘There must be something that can be done,’ Mum said.
Researching online, she found a support group.
‘There’s an ACNES specialist in WA,’ she said. ‘Lots of sufferers have been helped by him.’
We lived in Queensland, so it was the other side of the country.
Despite being a single mum, and having me and my brother Malakai, eight months, to care for, Mum didn’t hesitate.
‘We’re going,’ she said. ‘He’s our last hope.’
So she booked me in to see him, and we flew to Perth.
The specialist, Dr Krishna Boddu, explained he would administer several nerve-blocking injections into the scar tissue.
‘You need to be awake the whole time,’ he said.
That was because, if they missed the right spot it wouldn’t work.
Despite the local anaesthetic, the injections really hurt.
But the next day, I was pain-free on my right side!
While the injection had missed the spot on the left side, I was keen to try again. The difference was incredible.
Returning to Queensland, I felt so much better until the injections wore off.
But in truth, I needed them every three months for full relief. That’s why Mum and I decided to take drastic action.
Soon after the trip, we packed up our lives and moved 4000km to Perth.
Now I’m having regular treatment.
I’ve been so inspired that I’ve decided I want to be a doctor. I hope that one day, I can help others like I’ve been helped.
‘You just have to manage the pain with paracetamol’