My calendar has been reminding me every day this week that today is my five-year diagnosis anniversary…and I’m a maelstrom of emotions.
Sad. Happy. Angry. Vindicated. Excited. At peace. Hopeless. Blessed.
Years of pain, telling my doctors, taking meds, cancelling plans, missing work, and accepting it as normal. And five years ago today, I learned the cause of my pain had a name: Endometriosis. I never would have received my diagnosis if it weren’t for a series of ultrasounds, a competent doctor whom I now cherish, and the appearance of a persistent cyst on my ovary:
Feb. 2013: pelvic ultrasound
May 2013: pelvic ultrasound
May 2014: pelvic ultrasound – possible dermoid cyst
May 2014: pelvic MRI
June 30, 2014: exploratory, diagnostic, and excision surgery! SURPRISE ENDO!…not a dermoid cyst.
Sept. 2014: pelvic ultrasound
May 2015: pelvic ultrasound
Feb. 2016: flexible sigmoidoscopy to check out bowels due to pain
May 2016: pelvic ultrasound
July 2016: pelvic CT
Sept 2016: 2nd excision surgery
May 2017: pelvic ultrasound
August 2017: pelvic ultrasound
May 2018: pelvic ultrasound
June 2018: pelvic ultrasound
July 2018: 3rd excision surgery (Endo remained on small intestines to be dealt with ASAP by colo-rectal surgeon)
Nov. 2018: 4th excision surgery and bowel resection
April 2019: pelvic ultrasound
Pending July 2019: pelvic ultrasound to monitor a possible endometrioma…
The journey continues…and the spinning maelstrom of emotions also continue to fester: Sad. Happy. Angry. Vindicated. Excited. At peace. Hopeless. Blessed. Now with the possibility of the disease already being back already, add on: Scared. Nervous. Hopeful.
But my favorite part of today’s five-year anniversary? It led me to my Sisters and fellow Warriors, has given me new friends, and it’s brought me so much closer to my family. Endo given my a voice and purpose. It’s united all of us: Warriors and our Support. And we all fight together…not only for our own survival, but for one another.
Happy Big 5, Endo. Thanks for everything. ❤
Bloomin' Uterus 
Yup, right there with ya on the roller coaster of emotions! Diagnosed in 2016, total hysterectomy in 2017. The first year after surgery I started researching how best to look after my new found “menopausal” status…what I found shocked me. I was lied to for 14 years! I was soooooo angry! There were times that anger nearly consumed me, but because so many others were going through the same thing I knew I had to fight back. If 1 in 10 women (and who knows how many men) have this, that’s 47, 000 women in my home province alone! I can’t let the “old boys club” attitude and pharmaceutical greed in our medical system win. One foot in front of the other…rest when you need too, fight when you can.
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Thank you for being so opened about your experiences. It’s so true, Endo brings us all together to help one another through our daily struggles. Sometimes reading others’ posts are the things that help get me through the day. All we can do is take one day at a time
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HI there, so great to see there are other women writing about endometriosis as well!! I am sure that if we are enough People doing this, it will help educate the world about this awful disease. I look forward to more from you. I just started a blog as well. Follow me if you want to know more: http://tryingwithendometriosis.blog I wish you all the best and hope you are feeling better soon. Emmanuelle
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