I cannot believe that June is already behind us. It was a pretty laid-back month for my Endo. I skipped my period again, but I’m not too worried about that.

I still haven’t learned my lesson about eating too much. And when I do, I still get discomfort near my staples in my guts. I also experimented with having two or more boozy beverages; nope, not good. My body still doesn’t like that. Now, though, instead of intense staple pain my guts just freak out: I either poop uncontrollably or don’t poop at all for a day or two…which causes a discomfort all in its own. And I also experienced some left-abdominal discomfort and/or pain, but it was rare, minimal, and only at times right before I had to poop (and no every time I had to poop, either). And I mostly poo’d between one to five times a day, with a few days of no-poo…but those no-poo days were usually triggered by poor diet and beverage choices.

I did have one instance of “what the heck is that” pain near my lower left abdomen when I was bending over and cleanin’ the cat litter. It was fast and sharp and I figured it was either adhesions or that li’l cyst on my left ovary. Again, I’m not to worried about it.

Although I skipped my period, I did have a few days (around where I should have been bleeding) where I was super emotional and had baby-twinges of cramps. So I think my body was trying really hard to have a period. I spotted a few times during those days, but I’ve picked boogers that made more blood than my uterus did those days. So, seriously, counting June as a skipped period month.

And my favorite part of reviewing my pain tracker? No need for any NSAIDs or pain meds! No Ibuprofen, no Tylenol, no Naproxen Sodium, no Percocet, and no Tramadol! I cannot stress the importance of excision surgery by an experience Endo surgeon, as well as getting in tune with your body and seeing what else it may need: diet changes, meditation, acupuncture, cranial sacral therapy, yoga, pelvic floor therapy; whatever helps you!

Here’s my June pain journal and poopy charts!

May was a fun one. I was curious if I’d skip yet another period. OR if having skipped my April period would lead to a hellish May visit from Aunt Flow.

As you can see, I was pleasantly surprised! My period cramps never got above a 2 out of 10! My lower back pain was intermittent on my period at a low 1 out of 10. And I did receive a twinge of pain when I coughed on my period, toward the lower right abdomen area. I only took two over-the-counter Ibuprofen for my mild period cramps and back discomfort on the first day of my period. I had to remind myself, “Why suffer with this pain?” And they killed the remaining discomfort and cramps. TWO IBUPROFEN!

My other pain during May while NOT on my period?

• May 8th: I woke up at 6:30am with mild lower abdomen cramps, a 1 out of 10. Nothing to be concerned about, but something to note. It only lasted a few minutes; and I wondered if it was gas or poo-related.
• May 9th: I did it again; I ate too much. A buffalo bacon cheeseburger AND onion rings? I mean, I didn’t finish them…but I most certainly should have stopped eating sooner. This led to discomfort at my staples, 2 out of 10.
• May 10th: an odd, burning type of discomfort near my staples that lasted a few minutes, 3 out of 10. About an hour later, it was a quick series of diarrhea and poops; so I figure that discomfort was most certainly poo-related.
• May 12th: I woke up with mild discomfort at my staples; likely related to the night before’s angry bowels…
• May 13th: this was a new one: a weird discomfort in the area between my belly button and my lower ribs. Similar to the location of my pre-surgery pain, so of course I quirked an eyebrow and monitored this one with extra vigilance. The discomfort was only a 2/10. And didn’t lead to a big poo or anything horrible. It didn’t last long, either.
• May 14th: a repeat of that throbbing discomfort between my belly button and lower right ribs; it was a 3 out of 10 and lasted several minutes when I woke up. It occurred again that afternoon. It happened again twice more that afternoon…and I found the trigger. CHERRIES! By going through my food journal and timestamps, I realized it MIGHT be cherries causing me some type of gas pain. So…I stopped eating cherries…
• May 22nd: I, again, ate too much. It was yellow curry with chicken; I mean, how can you NOT eat to much? Well, I haven’t learned my lesson and received my usual staple discomfort, 3/10.

And my May poos? ZERO PAIN the entire month. No glass being dragged through my guts. No cramps while I poo. No need to bend over in two and cry while sitting on the porcelain throne.

May 7th holds the record for the most poos in a day: seven and two bouts of diarrhea! SEVEN!?! I hadn’t poo’d well the day before…and this was just my body’s way of suddenly purging all the leftover crap that was still in my guts! Seven…I was exhausted that day. LOL

What were the lessons I learned in May? 1) STOP EATING TOO MUCH! Just take your time, eat slowly, give your body time to adjust to the volume of food, and STOP EATING. Push the plate away, drop the fork, get a doggy bag. 2) My body’s not ready for two drinks a day. It may not lead to that agonizing pain I had in January…but it leads to some poopy issues. 😉 Just leave it to one drink…

If you’d like to read my day-by-day play-by-play May pain and food journal, please check it out below:

If you’d like to see my Poo Chart, please check it out below:

April is over with! Which means, time to share my pain & poop journals! (Is it weird that this is now one of my favorite blogging days?)

But first: the synopsis: I skipped another period. I mean, really, who wants a cycle in April? I only had a few days where I’d literally have like one tiny clot or one instance of a bit of brown goo when I wiped after I peed; I couldn’t consider that a period. I discussed my skipped February and April periods with my gyno; we’re gonna monitor it and see if it continues to happen.

Most of April was pain-free, and the pain or discomfort I felt was due to eating too much or not pooping for a day. Hubby and I had one instance of painful sex, and that was with deep penetration hitting the cervix. And one day I had a sharp, stabbing pain in my lower left abs that wasn’t like my usual “I ate too much” poo-discomfort. I wasn’t able to identify the trigger, but it luckily didn’t last long. And I didn’t have one single painful bowel movement. I love the new Endo-free guts! Zero need for over-the-counter pain medications or prescription pain medications this month!

And here we go! If you’d like to review the day-by-day pain and food journal, here it is.

And for your viewing pleasure, my poop journal! I’m learning the new pattern: if I haven’t pooped in a day, I’m bound to have diarrhea the next day. Sometimes lots of it…

March is done and over with. And man was it stressful! I can’t see myself EVER fitting in two big Endo events in March…too much planning, not enough energy! 🙂 But it was MARVELOUS!

AND to make March even better? It was 99.9% pain-free! My period even snuck up on me (again!) – no cramps, no pain. Just suddenly…I’m bleeding! And it remained pain-free during it’s 6-day duration. I did, however, have that sudden and severe butthole ache many of us may be familiar with. Out of nowhere and gone in a few minutes – but it was enough to take my breath away and make me stop typing.

I had a bad episode of food poisoning, which led to a sick day from work and a bit of painful sex (before the food poisoning symptoms started). And later in March learned my lesson the hard way that I can’t drink dark beers. It was quite a poopy month. And I did take two Ibuprofen on March 30th after our Endometriosis Awareness Walk – I was just sore and stiff, but not Endo-related pain.

If you’d like to track my daily symptom and food journal, feel free to scroll through each day:

And if you’re intrigued by my bowel movements, here they are! I’m super-duper-pooper excited to share that there were ZERO painful bowel movements. Just a LOT of diarrhea – oh food poisoning and dark beer…kept my March interesting to say the least. It taught me the VALUE of tracking my food and drink: I can go back and scroll through the day prior (or even the morning of) to see what may have triggered my liquid-poo).

I’m still so very pleased with my progress since November’s excision surgery and bowel resection. And am truly hoping this lasts. Forever. We shall see!

April begins NOW!

I’m a visual kind of person.  And I’m thinking of printing and bringing this to my surgeon for my pre-op appointment…Although I must say the past two days have been pretty much pain-free. 🙂

Where do you hurt?