Kate Mansi from General Hospital has recalled how she received an endometriosis diagnosis over 10 years ago due to surgical assistance from her stepfather.
The actor, who portrays Kristina in the soap opera, recently directed an episode that addresses the chronic condition that occurs when tissue meant to be on the inside of the uterus grows on the outside. According to the Mayo Clinic, endometriosis can result in severe pelvic or menstrual pain, as well as very heavy periods and possible infertility.
Mansi, 38, recently spoke to People about how she was properly diagnosed in 2015 after her stepfather performed emergency surgery. Though she didn't suffer from the typical symptoms, which include abnormal menstrual cycles, she did randomly began experiencing a distended stomach and severe pain that persisted while doctors “just kept dismissing it.”
“I think as a society we are so ingrained to just listen to what the doctors say and abandon what we feel,” she told the publication.
“I went into these appointments, and they said, ‘Oh, maybe the pain is because your IUD is turning.’ And then I would do an ultrasound. No, it's not my IUD. ‘Okay, well maybe it's just a bad period.’ I was getting really nauseous and I had been throwing up for days and they said maybe I had the flu. Maybe it's this, maybe it's that.”
The General Hospital actor continued to see her doctor as the symptoms worsened — and she kept showing up to set.
“I've never gone through childbirth, but it felt like I was having extreme contractions. They would say action, I would do my scene, and then the second they said cut, I was literally doubled over in pain,” she said. “It got unbearable that I ended up driving myself to the emergency room that day.”
After her mother and stepfather — who is an OB-GYN — met Mansi at the hospital, an 11-centimeter mass was discovered in her abdomen. While the ER doctors assumed it was cancer, her stepfather pushed for surgery.
“My stepdad was so frustrated — and because he's my stepfather, so it's not a blood relation — he scrubbed in himself and was like, ‘I’m not waiting for an oncologist. I'm gonna do the surgery or she’s not gonna make it.’ And he did a surgery that ended up saving my life,” she said.
After he performed the procedure, it was discovered that she had a ruptured ovarian cyst.
“All the blood had coagulated together into this 11-centimeter mass, cutting off blood and oxygen. He obviously took it out, but then he found all this endometriotic tissue,” Mansi explained, noting that her stepfather then revealed she had endometriosis.
Since being initially diagnosed, the actor went through the process of freezing her eggs and is “much more stable now.”
She hopes that the upcoming soap opera episode she directed inspires more women to speak out about their experiences with either endometriosis or any similar conditions.
“Empowered to speak up, telling their stories and coming out of their shadows and realizing we don't have to live with this quietly anymore,” Mansi said.
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