Abdominal Pain After Birth Leads to Life-Saving Vascular Surgery | Kaiser Permanente

Dianna Goodwin was at her 34-week routine checkup appointment at Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center when she began feeling pain in her abdomen. When her OB/GYN checked her, Dianna’s cervix was dilating. When the pain worsened, doctors decided to induce labor, out of concern that Dianna’s placenta had ruptured. Cassandra Goodwin was born on March 18, 2013 and was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit.
The next day, Dianna felt great and was ready to go home. She was visiting Cassie in the NICU before being discharged when she suddenly felt excruciating pain in her abdomen and collapsed.
Perinatologist Lawrence Sweet, MD knew something was very wrong and quickly grabbed his colleague, OB/GYN Lisa Brown, MD, to assess Dianna.
“It just didn’t add up,” said Dr. Brown. “She’d had a normal delivery, there were no complications.” But an emergency ultrasound showed that blood was quickly pooling into her abdomen.
Dianna was wheeled into the operating room, where team of nurses, doctors and staff had quickly assembled and was waiting for her. No one knew exactly what was going on, but everyone was prepared.
Vascular surgeon Edward Plecha, MD searched Dianna’s abdomen and found that her uterus, liver and spleen were all intact, so he began looking for an aneurysm.
“It was like looking for a needle in a haystack,” he said. Fortunately, he found a visceral aneurysm behind her pancreas and quickly ligated it.
“If the timeframe had been different, if I’d gone home, I would’ve died and Cassie would’ve died,” said Dianna, who lived an hour and a half away at the time, in Murrieta, Calif.
“With a ruptured aneurysm, time is of the absolute essence,” said Dr. Brown. “I credit Dr. Sweet for setting off the chain of events that saved [Dianna’s] life.”
“I think about those people all the time - the doctors, surgeons, nurses.” said Dianna. “I’m just so thankful to be here with my family.”
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