My Endo Story
July 16, 2012: I had a surgery that inadvertently (and finally) put a diagnosis to years and years of debilitating symptoms, which dated back to freshman/sophomore year in high school. Unexplained pain that was so excruciating it literally took my breath away and stopped me dead in my tracks. Feeling like an outcast because I was always exhausted and legitimately could not keep up with my girlfriends. I felt like I was going crazy because every test I had turned up "normal". Pelvic ultrasounds were "normal"--maybe I had a cyst that already ruptured. Every GI test under the sun, including a colonoscopy at 18, only showed "questionable thickening" along the lining of my intestines = Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Fast forward many years.
Thankfully, as bizarre as that sounds, we caught a large cyst on my ovary, which needed to be surgically removed. When my surgeon opened me up, he found extensive adhesions along my colon from the sigmoid to the rectum, which completely displaced my colon. (Remember the "questionable thickening" along my intestines??) Within a week (from the time of ultrasound to the time of surgery), the cyst had doubled in size and was the size of a lemon. Once removed, he found an odd area on my ovary, which he biopsied and came back positive for Endometriosis. Yall, this was likely there since I was in high school, when all of my problems began, and continued to worsen over the years. (We attributed my irregular and difficult periods to my being so athletic.)
After years of pain & symptoms, an answer!
Finally, after YEARS, I finally had an answer, although it was a hard answer to accept. My left ovary is full of Endo and its functionality is questionable. I was told I likely had less than a 35% chance of conceiving (enter Jimmy, my miracle baby). Treatment was/is anything we could/can do to minimize my symptoms and buy time until I will ultimately need at least a partial hysterectomy.
Here's to fighting like a girl and hoping to find a cure for Endo, because Endo sucks!!!
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