WARNING: This post has pictures from surgery.
If you read my blog “My Life before Endometriosis” I talked about going to the ER just days before the OBGYN appointment. So let’s pick up there…
I went to the OBGYN and she listened to me. She did lots of tests including CT, MRI, ultrasound, urinalysis, and blood work. When all of that came back clear she then asked me what I wanted to do. I told her I would like her to do the laparoscopic surgery to see if I had endometriosis (I’ve seen a pattern amongst everyone I know with Endometriosis, Drs tend to not openly suggest a laparoscopic surgery, you have to insist on it yourself, because surgery never comes without some risks and Drs hate to do exploratory surgery without knowing what they are getting into). She seemed to think that was a good idea and it would be really easy to not only diagnose it but remove it too. She had removed endometriosis lots of times and she was certain she could do it again. So we set up a surgery day. I had never had surgery before. It was such a big deal, that my husband, mom, and dad were all there by my side. Unfortunately, the surgery didn’t last even 30 minutes. When I got back to my room I could tell by their faces something was wrong. My husband and both my parents looked like they were about to cry. They told me not only did I have endometriosis but it was so bad she couldn’t do anything but send me to a specialist. She sent me home to wait for the specialist and from then on I was in so much pain I couldn’t hardly walk so she gave me a Drs note to be off work until after my surgery with the specialist. The OBGYN diagnosed me in August, in October I met the specialist who usually had a surgery waitlist of six months but when he saw my pictures and how much pain I was in he squeezed me into his schedule in December.
Pictures the OBGYN took. The markings all over them are from my specialist explaining what was going on. These are the only pictures she took so we had no idea how bad it really was until he got in there and found it everywhere (more on that in another post)
I was in so much pain that I arrived at the Drs. appointment (on Halloween by the way) assuming it was surgery day. My mom and husband kept asking if I was sure “because they usually have consultations” but I insisted it was the surgery. So we arrived at a motel the night before the Drs. app because it was very early in the morning three hours away. We arrived at the motel and the elevator was broken so I had to walk up the stairs. This of course was a very slow and painful process. Then I refused to eat anything because “surgery’s tomorrow you can’t eat before surgery”. We arrived at the Drs. the next day and I’m starving. We get into the room and I realize it IS just a consultation, so I started bawling. My mom gave me something to snack on, and I’m trying to listen and talk to the dr. through my tears(have you ever seen someone cry because they didn’t receive a surgery? ya, I don’t think he had either. (I would like to add this dr. was the most sympathetic, caring and knowledgeable, Dr. I’ve ever seen). He showed me the pictures my Obgyn took while she was in surgery, he went into great details about them and what endometriosis is, what it does, and how he will remove it (more on this in a different article). This Dr. realized we came from so far away so he got all my other tests scheduled for the same days, so that I only had to go back a few times.
I had to get an ultrasound, I had to be seen by a urologist, gastroenterology, and physical therapist. My mom took me to these appointments. The ultrasound hurt so bad I almost cried and my mom held my hand. The urologist found an infection in my bladder so then I had to get steroids injected through a catheter 4 times between that visit and my surgery (that was not fun). I was put on a bunch of medications (pictured below), and a Diet. At the time the diet was horrible, I had a hard time physically eating (we now know it was due to endo on the stomach), then I was a picky eater and didn’t like most of the things on the list. The list is a paid .99 app that tells you what you can’t eat/drink, can eat/drink in moderation and what is good to eat/drink. As you can see in the pictures below, my specialist took lots of time to explain himself, he even wrote notes on my papers as he was talking.
Dr notes from 10/31. I had dropped from 120 Ib in August to 113 Ib in October. I was put on three medications, and a diet.
Dr notes from 11/26. On top of the three meds I was put on last month, I was then put on two more.
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