This is the question that I have asked myself over and over for the past two days. Especially the why now question. Halloween is a week away, we have already gone to a “Trunk or Treat” with the kids, and I have yet to buy candy to hand out on Hallow’s Eve. If you know [...]
Sep 292012
I did a crazy thing tonight. I signed up for a clinical trial for women with endometriosis.
I know many people would never subject their bodies to the possibility of test drugs to get a problem solved, but if people didn’t volunteer to do it, how would clinical trials exist?
It is going to require that I stop nursing Grady but he is almost 19 months old and I’ve grown weary of nursing him. He stands on his head, pinches and twists the unused milk ducts, and kicks me in the chin. He LOVES nursing, I’m just done being kicked in the nose.
But more than that, I don’t want to miss out on finding a drug that will help women manage their endometriosis.
Here’s my story:
I started my period when I was in 6th grade, one embarrassing weekend while we were camping with my mom’s friend and her family. They had two boys, one was in the 7th grade at the other middle school in our town, and the other was a couple years younger. The naive Summer thought that they certainly hadn’t seen or heard anything, but boys aren’t stupid. My crying may have given it away. Or maybe it was the fact that I wouldn’t and couldn’t do anything for the rest of the weekend. I wasn’t in any pain, I was just…uncomfortable with the pillow between my legs.
That period lasted for 2 weeks, like many first time periods do. After that, they were about 9 days long pretty consistently until I hit 8th grade, where they decreased to 7 days. They were never, ever regular. A 28 day cycle? HA! Not in my undies!
One day, when I was 15 and a sophomore in high school, I was hit with the cramps. I had spent 4 years without them and thought I had escaped. OK, I lie. I thought women were WEAK and that I was strong like bull and didn’t feel my cramps.
HA!
The first day I felt my cramps, I thought I was going to die.
I had always been known for my high tolerance for pain so my mom knew something was seriously wrong.
Luckily, or unluckily for her, really; she had this horrible thing called endometriosis and figured that’s what was going on with me.
I was down for the count for about 2 days each month. I sucked it up with triple doses of Advil to go to school or dance team practice, but as soon as I got home, I grabbed a bowling ball, laid down on the floor with my butt to the wall, and put my legs up against the wall, placing the bowling ball on my pelvis. The pressure felt SO. GOOD.
I cried. I slept. I took lots of Aleve. I bled through Super sized tampons in less than an hour.
I told the lady parts doctor.
I was told it was dysmenorrhea, which is really just another word for a woman who can’t handle her menstrual cramps.
I was told I was only losing about 2 Tablespoons of blood each month.
Then WHAT was this torrent of blood and palm-sized clots coming out of me?!
They told me I was too young for endometriosis.
They gave me prescription pain killers each month to deal with the pain.
While it was pretty sweet to have a prescription for low-dose pain killers, it really sucked to have to deal with the immense bloating, and the continued pain. The pain killers didn’t actually kill the pain, I just didn’t care as much.
I had bowel issues. I would have diarrhea one day and severe constipation a few days later. It was always painful to poop, but the pain was in my pelvis and I couldn’t explain to anyone what I was feeling because I really just had dysmenorrhea and needed to suck it up, right?
One doctor went to so far as to tell me that most women had cramps and that I just had to get through it.
Fast forward 5 years: I’m 20 and 9 months pregnant. It’s August 18, 2001. At 7pm, I lose an enormous mucous plug. Due to my incessant reading, I know that it doesn’t really mean much of anything.
Then suddenly at 9pm, I have a cramp. It wasn’t so bad. It kind of felt like gas.
At 9:10pm, I had another cramp. Not so bad.
By 10pm, I’m in full blown labor and it doesn’t feel any worse than my regular, monthly “hey you can deal with it because everyone else does” menstrual cramps. I start puking at 10:30pm, signifying a my transition into the “Transition Phase” of labor.
I’m exhausted and terrified of squeezing a baby of of my nether regions but these cramps? I can handle these cramps. I’m used to this!
Styles is born at 6 minutes after midnight on the 19th – 3 hours and 6 minutes after I felt my first contraction. And at their worst, my labor pains were only a fine hair worse than what I dealt with every month for two whole days.
I nursed Styles for 9 months and when my cycle returned it seemed better, for about 4 months. I suddenly began having those debilitating cramps again, only they were worse because the amount of blood that accompanied them was even more severe and heavy than before. Sex hurt, as it always had, but I didn’t realize that painful intercourse was a symptom of endometriosis.
I was dismissed by 3 more doctors as having “dysmenorrhea”.
I knew, because my mom had surgically diagnosed endometriosis, that I also had it. Getting a doctor to agree with me was impossible.
Fast Forward again t0 April 2006. I get my period for the month and wind up weak and throwing up on my bathroom floor. I am in so much pain that I feel like I’m going to lose my intestines through my vagina and I’m becoming weaker by the minute.
Someone took me to the hospital that night, where they doped me up on morphine and began hydrating me while watching my fluid levels in the event I might need a blood transfusion. Once they got things calmed down (Don’t even ask me how, I was on morphine, remember?), a seriously hot doctor came in and told me that he was 100% certain that I had endometriosis and that I needed to see a specialist STAT.
I wanted to kiss him. I might have said as much in my morphine-induced high.
I saw the most wonderful doctor on the face of the planet a few short weeks later, and he confirmed that he thought I probably did have endometriosis. When I told him the excuses and rebuttals that other doctors had given me, he rolled his eyes. He had just operated on, and removed endometriosis from a 16 year old girl, so that whole “you’re too young” thing was completely out the door and down the hallway.
He scheduled my surgery for September, and booked an OR for 90 minutes for a short laparoscopic surgery. He said that if he found anything, that he would remove it.
Little did he know that once he got in there, he would find scar tissue EVERYWHERE inside my pelvic cavity. It had attached itself to my colon, which was the reason I had such touchy bowels, why it was so painful to poop, and likely the source of my immense pain.
My fallopian tubes were 100% and 75% blocked and tangled. I had scar tissue all over the inside walls of my body, and all over my uterus. I was in surgery for over 3 hours so that he could remove and untangle everything that he possibly could.
When I went for my followup appointment a few days later, he explained to me the extent of the damage that had been caused by my long-neglected endometriosis. He had pictures and everything. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. He felt certain that he had removed all of the pain-causing endometriosis and that I should become more regular, should feel less pain, and should experience much lighter periods.
Within 3 or 4 months, I was virtually pain free and my periods were much lighter. They were still unpredictable, but a later diagnosis of PCOS would eventually require a dietary change that sparked a regular schedule to start.
For two years I went pain free, and in November of 2008 I started to feel pain when I went pee during my period. SO much pain and pulling that I had to stop and start my stream several times to empty my bladder, lest I feel like my bladder was going to explode through my belly.
I went back to Dr. Fox and he did an ultrasound to see if I had a tumor or something else going on in there. All he saw were the pretty pearl necklaces that my ovaries sport due to PCOS. He told me that it might be the endometriosis coming back and attaching itself to strange places like my bladder but, as I knew, it required surgery for a definitive diagnosis. I told him we would wait a few months to see how things went before scheduling another surgery.
I ended up getting pregnant with Madilyn THAT. NIGHT. (that’s a story for another day). I nursed her until my second trimester of pregnancy with Grady, and didn’t start having a period again until February of this year. I went over 3 glorious years without a cycle.
But now that I’m having it again, I’m dealing with that searing pain when I pee. Sex is becoming painful again. My period is immensely heavy. I soaked a Super-Plus tampon in about 75 minutes last week. It lasted an entire EIGHT DAYS. To pee during my period, is to want to die. I pee because I have to, but I would rather be giving birth.
Because it is suspected that endometriosis is hereditary, it is likely that Madilyn will have the same problem. If I can enter and endure a clinical trial now, that might help her in the future, I’ll do whatever I have to do.
And now that I know that labor is equally as painful as, but much shorter than my menstrual cramps, I’ll do anything to save Madilyn from that continuous monthly pain.
Plus, I’m only 31. I still have a lot of menstruation in my future. If I can have those 2 days back every month, I’ll be a happy girl.
If you are a woman who experiences immense pain, abnormally heavy periods, or irregular cycles, please feel free to shoot me an email me and we can compare stories. Or better yet, call your OB/GYN NOW and tell them exactly what you are going through. If they are a good doctor, they won’t judge your “intolerance” of pain, and will do everything necessary to get to the bottom of your issue.
If I end up being selected to participate in the Violet Petal Study, I’ll keep you abreast of how things are going to the best of my ability.
Jun 072012
FAMILY: YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ THIS. Consider yourself warned.
It’s been three weeks since Kyle left us and I’ve been doing great! The kids are easier to handle because it’s just me and we have a specific routine. We do what we do because we have to do it without him and we can’t rely on him to pick up my slack. It’s been much easier than I thought it would be and for that I am thankful. With lots of prayer and determination, I have managed to remain sane, continue to work out, and to get the house packed.
The last thing on my mind has been sex.
I was cycling when Kyle left and prior to that we had been traveling, staying with family where we didn’t even consider doing the deed, (you’re welcome, Renee). If any of you know anything at all about endometriosis or PCOS, you know that you just DON’T do it while you’re cycling unless you want to wind up in a Bloody Mary-type blood bath.
No thanks.
SO it’s been like 5 weeks. I’m cool with that! I can hang. I have too much on my mind to take the mental time to even consider getting down and dirty so it’s really OK.
But not for Kyle. He’s flipping out. I think he thinks his penis is going to shrivel up and fall off from lack of use if he doesn’t get some immediately.
SO he called me the night before last and said he couldn’t wait until next Wednesday to see my vagina. Er…Me. He said that I needed to come to Raleigh STAT.
I reminded him of the sex toys I bought him while I was on bed rest with Madilyn a few years back. He doesn’t want that.
I reminded him that if he was out of lube, he could go to an adult shop and get some. He doesn’t want artificial lube.
I reminded him that the 12th wasn’t all that far away. He couldn’t go another day.
I finally said I’d come despite the massive amounts of packing and cleaning that I still have to do because I can’t stand the thought of his penis becoming dust in the wind.
I mean, I still want to use it!
Just not so much right now.
So I’ve been mentally preparing myself for a busy Friday and an even busier Monday and Tuesday to make up for my absence on Saturday and Sunday.
Then I get a text message this morning with this picture in it:
Yes, that is a speeding ticket. For $203. It costs $67 to fill the van up from empty. I would have had to fill up to get there and fill up once to get home. That equals $134. Plus the cost of snacks and drinks for the kids would have added MAYBE $15. A box of condoms would run me approximately $10.
That is a total of $159.
It would have been cheaper for me to go visit him than it was for him to drive home last night, going 69 in a 50. WHAT. THE. HECK.
I desperately need a new purse. And while I’m not a purse whore or a bag snob, I want a bag that is going to last me a couple of years. Something that will be time- and season-less too. I hate switching bags. I had my sights set on a new Coach from the outlet. $200 at the most.
But he told me we didn’t have the money for something like that right now.
Apparently we DO have the money for a $203 speeding ticket, though.
So my vagina and I are now staying in Savannah for the weekend to resume packing and cleaning.
If you’re in the area and want to see me, please come by and help pack. Shoot, come by and WATCH me pack. But at least come keep me company.
You know where I live.
I received promotional consideration from EdenFantasys. All conjugal visits and other situations are 100% my own.
Jan 272012
So we’ve made it to day 4. I don’t know about you, but I’m kinda sore today. Not sore bad, but sore like my muscles actually got used yesterday. I feel FANTASTIC!
Today’s challenges are really neat and #1 is something that I’ve kind of learned to do since becoming a Paleo life-styler. I don’t eat at normal “intervals” during the day anymore, I eat when the hunger strikes. Some days that means all day long. Others that means just breakfast and dinner. It’s absolutely fantastic to not feel “pressure” to eat at noon just because the rest of the world eats lunch at that time.
So what are today’s challenges?
- Honor Hunger: Don’t eat just because the clock tells you you have to eat. Eat when hunger guides you. Eat until you’re full, not until all of the food on your plate is gone. You will be amazed at the surge of energy eating for fuel, as opposed to eating for emotion, gives you.
- Exercise: Aerobic Adventure. Try something new today. Borrow your friend’s bike, take your dusty snow shoes out for a spin, go cross country skiing, or go surfing. Make sure your heart rate is in the 55-75 percent range, max. Make this an “extended” period of time. Extended can mean whatever you want it to mean; 30 minutes, an hour, or 2 hours. Whatever.
- Lifestyle: Stand-up work station. I’m blessed to not have a “normal” job so I am up and doing chores much of the day but if you work in an office environment, GET UP! Elevate your computer on boxes and do your work standing up. If you can, remove your shoes for the best effect.
Do you think you can do that? I’m going to try to go on a bike ride this afternoon when The Workaholic gets home from work. I already honor hunger in my daily life so that will be an easy one for me, and standing up while I work? WELL…I’m sitting down right now but I have a kitchen to clean, floors to mop and vacuum, and laundry to do. Therefore, I think it is pretty safe to say that I will be standing up most of the day.
How was Day 3 for you?
I surprised myself last night and got some really great weight training in. Like predicted, I could not do a single pull-up but I WAS able to do 100 sit-ups, 75 squats, 2 minutes of planks, and 30 push-ups.
I look forward to checking in with you tomorrow! I’ll have RESOLUTION : Paleo week 4 up later this afternoon. In the mean time, I have to go clean my house and fold some laundry. FUN!
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Come to Our Nest 
