I had an hour long massage scheduled.
By the time everything was said and done, she had been working on me for over two.
I’m pretty sure I love her.
She had a few more interesing insights while she was working on me as well.
She mentioned the fact that when she was working anywhere near my lungs, she felt like she couldn’t breathe. She kept saying that she felt like something was wrong with my lungs.
I hadn’t yet told her about the endo Dr. Cook thought could possibly be up in my lungs last time around. Or the fact that I’ve had difficulty breathing my last two periods. Wheezing, chest congestion, and headaches as a result. The first time I thought I was possibly getting an infection of some kind, but when I went to the doctor – they told me there was no infection. Likely just a cold. And then it went away as soon as my period did and I tried not to think about it anymore. Until Jack reappeared this last time, and again I found myself unable to breathe right.
It’s always possible she’s read here, or that there’s some other way she could have known about this. But I have to admit – she threw me when she said it.
How she knows any of this doesn’t really matter though, because her massages have been giving me the most pain relief of anything else I’ve ever tried. Some of the things she does leave me writhing in pain while I’m lying there on her table, but as soon as I get up and walk out – I feel so much better than I did when I first walked in.
Like I said, I’m pretty sure I love her.
I did talk to her about my discomfort with the holistic chiropractor she had recommended me to initially (the one I need to go to in order to get prescriptions to see her), and she was completely open to my concerns and immediately recommended someone else. She even went and cancled the appointment I already had set with him for that day.
Which was amazing, because I really hadn’t been looking forward to seeing him.
In preparation for that appointment though, I had created a history of the last few years at his request. In looking over it, I thought maybe it was something I should share here. I’m not sure I’ve ever broken it down so succinctly in this space before before. Looking at it, I can't help but realize how fast everything change. How quickly I went from healthy, to anything but.
So here it is; my endometriosis history:
- First period at 13 – on the pill within a few cycles. Periods had been heavy and painful, but after being on the pill everything was fine.
- Donated eggs in July 2007 AND January 2008 (24 years old). Did not go back on the pill after second donation. Both donations went smoothly and produced 14 eggs of “great” quality.
- Started having more painful periods in June 2008. Moved to Alaska at the same time. Cycles were getting further apart and increasingly painful.
- In October of 2008, went to the doctor because I hadn’t had a period in 2 months. He initially told me it was from the stress of moving cross country.
- Period finally returned in late November; the first time the pain was unbearable. Doctor still brushed this off.
- Went back to the doctor in January of 2009 after another very painful period. At that point he did an ultrasound and told me that my ovaries “looked like hell”. It had only been a year since my last donation, when everything had been perfect.
- Was put back on the birth control pill in January of 2009.
- Next two periods landed me in the hospital, and back at the doctor’s office – where it was discovered that the cysts on my ovaries were growing large and multiplying. The doctor told me he thought I needed a hysterectomy, without any kind of diagnosis beyond the vague possibility that the thought it might be cancer. He gave me a consent to have a hysterectomy, and I sought out a second opinion.
- Second opinion told me I didn’t need to jump straight to a hysterectomy, and that she would first prefer to do something exploratory. I had my first surgery in May of 2009. Diagnosis of endometriosis. Appendix removed, and left tube removed. I was told to stay on the pill after the surgery and that that should keep it from returning.
- August of 2009 began experiencing pain again.
- Second surgery in November of 2009. At this point diagnosed with Stage IV endo. Put on Lupron and told to start considering my options if I hoped to have children someday.
- February of 2010, started having pain again. Even though I was on Lupron at the time, it was discovered that new cysts were growing. Since both surgeries had revealed all of my cysts to be endometriomas, it was assumed that the endometriosis was returning.
- First IVF cycle in July of 2010. 10 eggs of “fair” quality were retrieved. 3 fertilized. 1 was transferred in a fresh cycle, 2 were frozen. The cycle failed.
- Second IVF cycle in November of 2010. Both frozen embryos unthawed and were transferred. The cycle failed.
- Daily chronic pain continued and grew worse after these failed cycles. Dr. wasn’t sure what more she could do to help, and so I sought out the help of specialists in the lower 48, which is how I met Dr. Cook.
- Third surgery with Dr. Cook in Los Gatos, CA in February of 2011. 4 ½ hour extensive surgery during which endometriosis was discovered high in my abdominal cavity and my bowel and uterus were discovered to be completely fused together.
- Return of pain in June of 2011. Ultrasounds revealed new endometriomas, which had grown and multiplied by the time of a second ultrasound 6 weeks later.
Interventions attempted:
- Lupron
- Birth Control Pill
- Surgery
- Acupuncture *
- The Endometriosis Diet (gluten and dairy free)
- Loose Chinese herbs *
- Large variety of supplements *
* = Still Trying
