A brave yoga teacher has spoken of her determination to return to the job she loves after suffering “screaming agony" and egg-sized blood clots when her internal organs fused together.
Rebecca Bruce-Radcliffe, known by her professional name Nartani Rose, tried for years to find out why she had a mysterious ache in her pelvis causing “unbearable pain," before doctors realized her bowel and one of her ovaries had fused to her pelvic wall.
Nartani had her organs surgically separated last month, but immediately afterwards, she felt even worse.
“The first two days after the operation were the most unbearable suffering of my life," she said.
“I was in so much pain that I was screaming agony if I moved my leg a centimeter."
Now she is monitoring her symptoms at home using a daily pain diary and, while she has not recovered, she is relieved to finally have a reason for her suffering and to know it was not “in her head."
Nartani had always been extremely fit and healthy, first taking up yoga at 21 and completing her training to become a vinyasa, hatha and yin yoga teacher in 2016 when she was 24.
That June, she began suffering from unexplained pelvic pain and inflammation, which she felt sure was not digestive or menstrual cramps.
Sometimes her abdomen would appear distended for weeks on end, according to Nartani.
“My belly was inflamed and swollen – it looked like I was pregnant," she said.
But the source of her problems had doctors baffled.
“I had countless appointments, scans and internal examinations with gynecologists, and appointments with gastroenterologists," she said.
“No doctor could diagnose me and I just kept hearing, 'Well we couldn't find anything'."
"I started to think it could be all in my head," she said.
Despite her worries, she pursued her dreams of traveling to India and America and teaching dance and yoga abroad. Managing to cope with her symptoms, despite the pain getting “worse and worse" over time.
In March this year, Nartani, returned to her hometown in the UK to avoid being stranded in India.
She stayed with a family member before moving into a rented house, where her new boyfriend Ryan, is currently staying with her while he visits from California.
In April, a smear test revealed that she had pre-cancerous cells on her cervix, so she was told she would need surgery to remove them and prevent them from developing into cancer.
Despite being told by doctors this was not causing her mysterious pelvic pain, which had become so bad she was signed off work in June, Nartani said she hoped they were wrong.
"I was hoping my pain would stop," she said.
On September 15, she had surgery to remove the pre-cancerous cells and was sent home to recover. But, far from feeling better, just a couple of weeks later, her condition dramatically worsened.
"Out of the blue one evening at home, I suddenly started experiencing very heavy bleeding," Nartani said.
"It was so heavy to the point where I was having to wear an adult nappy and it was leaking through – even on the night it started."
"I was in so much pain – it was like labour and I was screaming out in agony," she added.
Rushed by ambulance to the A&E department at Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, on October 5, Nartani was given strong pain relief and had a colposcopy.
“I was passing blood clots that were so big they were the size of an egg," she said.
"I couldn't stand up or walk – I was in a wheelchair. I couldn't even put one foot on the ground because the pain would bring me down to the floor," she said.
Nartani was asked to return to the hospital the next day to be examined more thoroughly but, despite her exhaustion, her condition was so severe she returned again on October 6, in the same excruciating pain.
Discharged again, she was admitted on October 7, after returning first thing in the morning.
During her three-day stay, her cervix was cauterized to stop the bleeding and Nartani was kept on high doses of painkilling drugs “pretty much around the clock."
After being discharged, before she could leave the hospital, Nartani collapsed in a toilet in the discharge lounge.
"Suddenly it all started again," she said. "The severe pain and heavy bleeding."
"Two nurses had to help me and there was blood everywhere," she added.
Told she was on strict bedrest, Nartani returned home to await further surgery.
She needed a laparoscopy, in a bid to discover what was causing her pelvic agony, but faced a wait of over a year for the procedure.
To add to her anxiety, she discovered her pre-cancerous cells had spread, requiring another operation to clear them from her cervix.
"I spent almost six weeks being bedridden and totally housebound – in pain and bleeding," Nartani said.
“Due to the pandemic, they were only performing cancer surgery, which was why I was able to get my cervical pre-cancer cells removed – but had to wait for the laparoscopy."
But a stroke of good fortune saw her being fast-tracked for her laparoscopy at Westcumberland Hospital, in Whitehaven, on November 19.
And her surgeon said he could remove her remaining pre-cancerous cells at the same time, saving her a separate operation.
But when she came to from the anaesthetic, Nartani was in “unbearable pain."
"They had to IV me with fentanyl which is an extremely strong painkiller and can only be administered by anesthetists," she said.
“I was so scared, confused and fearful. It was horrible and I was also bleeding."
Kept in a private room in Whitehaven Hospital for five days, Nartani needed 24-hour care, as she kept bleeding through her dressings and was unable to move herself.
"The first two days were the most unbearable suffering time of my life," she said. “My body was in so much shock I couldn't even have a wee."
"I couldn't actually move – the nurses had to wheel a commode next to the bed and I was struggling to even get onto that."
"I was in so much pain that I was screaming agony moving my leg a centimeter."
"I couldn't wee because I was in so much pain in my pelvic region. I had to sit there for an hour and pass urine one drop at a time. I couldn't even push because it was so painful," she said.
To make matters worse, Nartani started having panic attacks.
"I couldn't breathe and started hyperventilating – my body was just stunned," she said.
"I kept begging for more painkillers, but they'd given me everything they could."
The surgeon explained that the laparoscopy had revealed Nartani's left ovary to have completely fused to her bowel – with both organs in turn fused to her pelvic wall – and this had caused all her pain.
The organs had now been separated, in a process known as adhesiolysis – after what was meant to be a simple diagnostic process had turned into a complex operation.
But, despite all the pain she was in, Nartani felt relieved to finally have answers and to know she had not imagined her suffering over the previous four years.
"I just thought 'oh my God, it wasn't in my head'," she said
"The surgeon said the inflammation, which I'd had on and off since 2016, had caused the fusion. The chronic inflammation had pushed the organs together."
"He said the fusion can be caused by the pressure of the organs being squeezed so closely together," she said.
But the cause of the mysterious inflammation, which had sometimes made Nartani look pregnant and caused her bleeding and pain, remains a mystery.
Now Nartani is awaiting test results, which she hopes will show all her pre-cancerous cells, which doctors say were not responsible for her symptoms, have been removed from her cervix.
"My pain diary still shows that I am in pain seven days a week," said Nartani, who can only hope her organs will not fuse together again.
"It's still a big question as to why I am still in pain and I honestly think there is still something going on. But mentally it gives me peace of mind knowing that medically something has been done."
"Now it's up to me to be positive and just push my own recovery and move forwards with my life."
Setting up a GoFundMe page to support her with the cost of her illness – so far, raising $2,000 towards her $10,000 target – she plans to use the money to repay debts caused by being unable to work.
Hoping to find cheaper accommodation to rent, she will also use it to help with living costs, as she waits to hear if she will qualify for Department of Work and Pensions personal independence payments (PIP) – or long term sick benefits.
At least, armed with a cause for her pain, Nartani is determined to overcome her problems.
"There are still a lot of questions about what's wrong with me. It's mysterious even to the doctors," she said.
Her goal is to return to her yoga and dance teaching career if she can recover physically, or to become an ambassador for a natural skincare brand, if that proves impossible.
“My life is traveling and yoga and dance teaching," she said.
“I really want to go back to it, but if I can't, I plan to focus on promoting natural skincare, as I can do that from home, even if I am in pain."
“I've learned you really have to take care of your own health. Nobody is going to solve it for you. They can help, but the desire to get better has to come from you."
To donate to Nartani's GoFundMe, click here
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