Hermit

This is where I should've been...

I don't know what it is, but this past weekend I felt like a total hermit. I didn't want to leave the house at all. We got invited to a music/art show down in Santa Monica on Saturday night, but I was too lazy. I popped in movie after movie and just wrapped myself up in a blanket and layed around. So unlike me!

Even today, I'm off work and I was going to drop the kids off at school, attempt to go straight to the gym, (my back is still ridiculously sore-no idea why. Had an ultrasound to check my gall bladder, liver, kidney's and stomach-which came back okay. YAY! But what is this pain? X-Ray's next I guess. ) The gym didn't happen.

I was also going to head out to lay by the pool or ride my bike to the beach and write a little bit (it's a gorgeous day here today) but went upstairs to finish some reading, fell asleep and woke up at 12:00 p.m.! What's up with me? Well maybe my body just needs to rest?

So I feel like I've wasted my weekend and today by being non-productive. Hmmm...need to search for my lost motivation this week.

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.