It's often mistaken for something else, the result of childbearing, or ovarian cysts, or fibroids, or neurological back pain or something happening with the bladder or colon, which are also in that area, she says.

The cause is not well understood, though most practitioners believe there's a hormonal component. Whether there's a genetic link is uncertain. Obesity seems to increase the risk.

It can affect veins of both the uterus and ovaries. An MRI with a venogram is the best way to confirm the enlarged vessels, Harker and Sharp say. Treatment approaches vary, depending on where the veins are dilated and what works for the patient. Whether a woman wants to have children in the future is a huge consideration.

Sharp says hormone therapies may provide relief.

If the ovarian veins are the only problem, Sharps recommends that patients consider ovarian vein embolization or having them occluded surgically with a laparoscope. If all else fails, a hysterectomy, with removal of none, one or both ovaries, may be called for. That used to be the sole treatment option.

An often-quoted number says that in 97 percent of cases, the condition can be improved. In two-thirds of the cases, it can be cured.

Harker says she's had great success using pelvic venogram with embolization to treat dilated ovarian veins or pelvic varices (the equivalent of varicose veins in the pelvic region), a procedure many women believe they have to go out of state to access. In fact, a number of Utah interventional radiologists do it.

That involves placing little coils in the vein, an outpatient procedure done under conscious IV sedation. A catheter is inserted through the jugular and dye is injected to look for abnormal veins. Then coils are deployed in what is a minimally invasive, nonsurgical procedure. The coils are straight but begin to coil as they are placed, filling the structures that are to be closed. One area or several may be coiled.

There are different ways to permanently close or embolize the veins. "We take out the abnormal vein that's not helping you, so there's no blood flow in it. Other veins do the job of moving blood just fine," Harker says. Closing off the vein may create some initial achiness.

Five days before Christmas, Thackeray had the coil procedure, then went home to Skull Valley for the holidays, the pain dulled considerably, manageable with ibuprofen. She's functioning again. She's again a mom to Kate, 8, and Garrett, 10, and a wife to husband, Joe, she says.

And she expects it to get better still.

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com