I Got Ripped Off!

It was one of those typical Sunday mornings...rushing around, trying to clean the house before church so it would be ready for the Open House and then I literally got ripped off!

Here's how the day stacked up:

1. Clean the house~
2. Go to church~
3. Hurry home to grab the dog~
4. Go to dog beach/downtown for 4 hours during the Open House~
5. Come home, drop the dog off and head to the kids basketball game~
6. After the game, run to the store for drinks & then over to my hubby's ex-wifes house for Dillons 18th birthday dinner~

It was just a typical day for us...RUN, RUN, RUN.

Now in between dropping the dog off at home and heading to the basketball game, I noticed something was missing.

I ran upstairs to take my vitamins & prescription meds.

I had an emergency hysterectomy when I was in my 30's due to endometriosis...I almost died (CLICK HERE TO READ THE STORY). So I've been taking hormones daily ever since. I also had some pills for a cough that's been lingering from the flu/cold.

I usually put my basket of vitamins/meds away before the Open House, but I was running late so I left it on my dresser. I went to dig down to the bottom of the basket & the Premarin & cough medicine was gone. I looked around, thinking, "Where could they be...they're always here? No, someone couldn't have stolen them?"

That's when I noticed that the bathroom cabinet was open & my husband said the downstairs cabinet was also open with stuff out.

Someone totally had stolen my meds!!!

How creepy is that? Someone was rummaging through our things!

Our Realtor felt so bad. She held the Open House alone and we have three stories. She said it was packed the entire day, she couldn't walk through the house with everyone because then no one would be downstairs when people got there. She said that nothing like that has ever happened at any of her Open Houses before.

I guess I should feel lucky that's the only thing they took...but I still feel violated!

Guess there's a lot of desperate pill freaks out there who need female hormones!

Don't Take the Yellow Pill!

Before running out the door with the kids, I grabbed the usual handful of vitamins (Omega 3, Multi-Vitamin, Vitamin C, B-12 and Acaii) I shoved them in my right pocket. Then shaking the bottles again I took out another complete set of the exact same vitamins plus my little yellow pill.

I had a complete emergency hysterectomy at the age of 35. I had endometriosis which had gotten outside of my uterus, wrapped around my intestines and had completely blocked them, hence the daily dose of Premarin 1.25.

I placed my handful into my left pocket. Screaming at the kids to, "HURRY UP or we're going to be late"...we rushed out the door to get them to their hell week football practice.

Now just so you know this is my daily morning routine, nothing out of the ordinary...rush, rush rush, interspersed with yelling. Once inside the car more yelling to, "Jump in and close the door, you can put your shoes on in the car!" Then as we're driving, I reach into my right pocket, pull out the daily vitamins, dividing them up between the boys as I try to navigate around the traffic to get them to practice on time. Then it's straight to work from there.

Once I got to work, I reached into my left pocket to take out my vitamins & pill. Everything was there except my little yellow pill. I didn't think too much of it, I thought maybe it had fallen out or I forgot to put it in my pocket during all the chaos.

After a long day, I picked up the boys, went upstairs, when all of a sudden my 14 year old walked into my room and said, "Mom, what was that yellow pill you gave me this morning?" My mouth dropped open then I quickly asked, "You didn't take it did you?" "Ya, I thought it was potassium since I've been cramping up at football." "OH NO...THAT WAS MY GIRL HORMONE PILL," I replied, quickly running over to the computer in a panic, Googling what effects a hormone pill would have on a teenage boy. His eyes were large, eyebrows raised up in shock, mouth dropped open before he shouted, "I WONT GROW BOOBS WILL I?!!"

Kinda like this!

I said, "I HOPE NOT," trying not to laugh. He sat next to me until we verified that he would be okay. Luckily nothing happens unless you use them over a long period of time, but I felt like the worst mom in the world. Who gives their teenage son female hormone pills? Oh yeah, ME!

I told him, "From now on if there is ever something out of the ordinary...DON'T TAKE IT!"

*********Note to self...SLOW DOWN IN THE MORNING!*********

The Hidden Danger of Endometriosis

I suffered for years from endometriosis and it almost cost me my life! Endometriosis is a silent, often undetectable problem for many women. I had been suffering from severe lower abdominal pain for a year. It became so bad that I started getting a fever and having trouble going to the bathroom. I went to the doctor who passed it off as some type of flu. He prescribed pain medication and told me it would pass. My stomach started to become severely bloated. When I went back to the doctor, he made me feel as though it was all in my head.

Finally, after eating a large meal one evening, I found myself hunched over on the bathroom floor, with a stomach the size of a five month pregnant women. The pain was excruciating and unbearable. My husband drove me to the emergency room. I was immediately rushed in and they stuck a large tube through my nose, down to my stomach to drain the contents. After endless tests, CT scan, MRI, Ultrasound and blood tests, they said they “thought” I had an intestinal blockage.

They took me up for surgery. After opening me up, they found that endometriosis had gotten outside of my uterus and wrapped itself around my intestines, thus creating a blockage. Two surgeons worked on me, one cutting away the endometriosis in hopes of saving that area of my intestines, the other performing a complete hysterectomy at the age of 34. The worst part was that if I had not made it to the emergency room that night, I would have died due to the toxins that were backed up in my body for a month.

I cannot stress the importance of listening to your body. If the doctors are unable to find anything, then ask them to look for endometriosis. I had little knowledge of the damage that endometriosis could cause to my health. I trusted my doctors to “see the signs”. I hope that my experience will help bring attention to the life threatening dangers of this hidden problem.