It can manifest as painful bowels or even painful bowel movements. Some people describe the bowel movement pain as broken glass or barbed wire moving through their guts. It may be Endometriosis on, near, or inside the intestines, or interfering adhesions.
February has ended! And I’m tickled pink with my body’s progress. I’ve learned that I had to distinguish between discomfort and pain…Why? Because it’s not all pain anymore.
Discomfort, to me, means it can pass quickly, or doesn’t warrant a pain pill. It’s not debilitating. It’s like an annoyance or inconvenience.
Pain, on the other hand, strips me of my focus, causes me alarm, roots me to my place, takes away my abilities, causes me to cry out, or curl into a little ball.
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Melanie Rossiter is writing a book about Endometriosis (which is available on Amazon) and wanted to share her Endo journey with us today.
This story is taken from the introduction of my book ‘Reclaiming Feminine Wisdom: An Empowering Journey With Endometriosis’.
My struggle back to health began two weeks after the birth of my second child. I had to have postnatal emergency surgery for a retained placenta, which was followed by pain, adhesions (scar tissue sticking tissues or organs together), and endometriosis.
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Before I get started, let me explain the image above. A talented artist by the name of Ivy Denton created it for me (they also created the EndoGuy and PoopChuteSnakie you’ll see below). They’re taking commissions if you’re interested in throwing ideas their way! “What is it,” you may be asking yourself. It’s a whimsical interpretation of my insides: a uterus with two cervix, no fallopian tubes (hence the band-aids and floating ovaries), and it’s accompanied by it’s new buddy: an intestine missing some pieces. I think it’s adorable! Thanks, Ivy!!
On with the good stuff! If you didn’t already know, back in July 2018 during an excision surgery Dr. Kurtulus discovered a pair of Endo lesions on my small intestine . He brought in a colo-rectal surgeon, Dr. Schultzel, to look at it and decide if we could remove it then. Unfortunately, it was deemed too deep and risky without a proper bowel prep and a future resection would take place.
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Well, here we are in 2019 and I’m starting my blog off talking about poop…Why? Because I’m SUPER excited to share with you how different my bowels (and pain levels) have been since my recent bowel resection and Endometriosis excision surgery.
If you weren’t aware, I underwent a bowel resection to remove deep-infiltrating Endometriosis from my small intestine.
Embrace this discovery with me! Here’s my pain journal summary for November of 2018:
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What the heck am I talking about?
There’s a study published in August of 2018 that I just read, and it threw me for a loop. So I wanted to share it with you.
A 52-year-old woman went to her Primary Care Physician because she had a weird leaking hole near her right hip. It just drained a nasty discharge. He put her on antibiotics for two weeks, but it didn’t resolve. After suffering from the drainage for two months, she went to the emergency room. If you’re curious, you can see a photograph of her little hip-hole.
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Aly was diagnosed when she was 15 years old. Now 21, she shares her Journey with us, and she has been through so much. She does, however, continue to fight and push ahead and raise awareness. She’s an incredible woman. And one hell of a Warrior.
Aly’s Journey: I have been a runner since I was four years old. It has always been my passion, but it was also where my pain began. In the spring of my junior year, I was running on the track as usual when I suddenly I fell to my hands and knees in severe pain. I vomited when I tried to get up. It was the beginning of a life-changing injury in which I would endure unbearable stomach pain that I still experience even though it has been 7 years since I was diagnosed.
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On July 18, 2018, I underwent my third robotic-assisted laparoscopic excision of Endometriosis by Dr. Mel Kurtulus ( of San Diego Womens Health). As always, I love to share my experiences with you – not only to create awareness of this illness, but in the hopes that the process of my surgery (and later recovery) may help you, or others.
Before I go on, I just want to take a moment to express my joy in the above-photograph. I am a detached head, floating beneath a fluffy warm-air blanket in the pre-op area, enjoying a wonderful moment with an incredible surgeon and man. Thank you, Brandy, for capturing this. And thank you, Dr. Kurtulus, for being so marvelous!
Okay, on with the nitty-gritty!
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Michelle from Virginia was diagnosed with Endometriosis when she was 36. Now a year later, she shares her Endo story with us.
Michelle’s Journey: Hi. My name is Michelle. I am sharing this story to help others with endometriosis. I have a very unique story.
In 2003 I came out of the military with a rare bone tumor called fibrous dysplasia. This was and still is in my pelvis. It’s something I went through many years and it took having my third son to put me in a state of barely walking, getting infusions, many rare surgeries at John Hopkins to get the help I needed to walk day-to-day.
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Michelle was diagnosed with Endometriosis when 20. Now 35, and living in La Mesa, California, Michelle shares her Endo story with us.
Michelle’s Journey: My endo story I first got my period at 10 years old. I remember I was still in elementary school, playing in PE when I got my first one. From there, my periods became increasingly more and more painful.
By 15 years old I remember rolling around on the ground in the bathroom, sometimes in so much pain that it made me throw up. I would miss school sometimes but most of the time tried to tough it out. My periods were always at least 7 days long, super heavy and lots of huge clots. I thought that was normal…..I was taught to believe this was all normal.
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Bloomin' Uterus 