I was first diagnosed with endometriosis in 1994 at the age of 22.
I went in to see my obgyn complaining of severe pain especially with my periods and with sex. The pain felt like someone was stabbing me with a knife. He did an office examine and said he was pretty sure I had endometriosis but he wanted to do a laparoscopic surgery to see for sure.
During the surgery the Dr. came out and told my husband that I had 20-30 fairly large size endometriosis and the only thing keeping him from suggesting a hysterectomy was my age and the fact that we have not had any children.
At that age I had no idea what endormetrosis was and did not know anybody with it. The Dr. had taped the surgery so he could have a meeting with me and my husband and explain what the disease was and discuss what treatment we would need to do next.
During the meeting it was explained to us that endometriosis is a disorder in which bits of tissue from the inner lining of the uterus (the endometrium) grow inside a woman’s body, outside of the uterus. It can cause severe pain and cause trouble conceiving.
He showed us the video and all the spots of endometriosis I had in me. It was getting a bit overwhelming for me! On the video the Dr. flipped up one of my tubes and hubby just started busting out laughing so bad he had to excuse himself. I apologized to the Dr. but he assured me it happens all the time.
The Dr. said the next step would be for me to take Depo-Provera shots for the next couple of months to prevent the endo. from coming back but strongly advised us to start thinking about children.
We were not ready for kids at the point in our lives but we did not realize how severe endometriosis could be.
So we decided to hold off on kids and just see if the endo came back.
This began my long and painful battle with endometriosis.
(To be Continued…)
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Tags: Endometriosis
I’m so glad you’re sharing this with us. My cousin tried for years to have a child. Like you, she suffered from severe endometreosis. She did get pregnant and that “baby” is now around 18 years old!
I’m really looking forward to hearing the rest of this story. I’ve seen your beautiful “bear” so I know it ends happily, but I really don’t know much about this disease and am interested in finding out more. Thanks for sharing!
Endometriosis kicked my butt too. I will post my story. The pain is terrible. People that have never had it don’t understand how debiltating it is, it totally sucks.