Sky Sports presenter Anna Woolhouse has shared a health update after undergoing her second laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis.
Sharing a selfie from a hospital bed on Wednesday (2 April), the 41-year-old TV star said the past week has been “quite the wild ride”.
She wrote: “Last week I had my second laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis in 7 years, it was done by the surgeon controlling a robot which blows my mind,” she said. “It ended up being a slightly chunkier op than I’d bargained for but all ok in the end.”
Laparoscopy is a type of surgical procedure that allows a surgeon to access the abdomen through keyhole surgery, a type of minimally invasive surgery. The procedure is sometimes used to allow doctors to cut or remove the endometriosis tissue as a form of treatment.
Woolhouse, who has led Sky Sports boxing coverage since she joined the channel in 2012, said that she wanted to mark endometriosis awareness month, which ended on Monday, to “shine a light on a condition that still isn’t known or spoken about nearly enough”.
She went on to explain how the condition that affects one in 10 women, according to the charity Endometriosis UK, and that the process of getting a diagnosis is often “long, emotional and painful process and can be incredibly debilitating to live with”.
The second slide was a picture of Woolhouse’s midriff area covered in bloody bandages, and in another slide, she shared a picture of Married At First Sight Australia playing on her iPad from her hospital bed.
Woolhouse was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2017 after “endless GP appointments”.
She said: “I had my first surgery in 2018 and for a couple of years my symptoms did improve, but alas it came back and in recent years has resulted in some heartbreaking blows and ultimately meant having another surgery, really hoping this will be it,” she said.
She went on to thank the “brilliant” staff at the Cromwell Hospital in London, adding, “And thank god for MAFS on my iPad (don’t judge!)”
Woolhouse added that she would be focusing on resting and taking steady walks outdoors.
“I might be ‘off games’ for a couple of weeks but I’ll be back wearing dodgy odd socks and trainers in no time,” she concluded the post.
Endometriosis is where cells similar to those in the lining of the womb grow in other parts of the body, such as the ovaries, fallopian tubes and lining of the pelvis.
According to the NHS, it can sometimes affect organs, such as the bladder and bowel. Rarely, it is found in areas outside the pelvis, such as the chest.
Symptoms occur when patches of endometriosis break down and bleed during your period but cannot leave the body, with symptoms including severe period pain, heavy periods, pain when going to the toilet, as well as pain in the pelvic area, extreme fatigue and pain or bleeding in other areas.
There is difficulty with diagnosing endometriosis because symptoms can be similar to other conditions such as adenomyosis, when the lining of the uterus starts growing in the muscle in the wall of the womb, fibroids, pelvic inflammatory disease and irritable bowel syndrome.
