1) I officially became on occupational therapist which feels amazing after years of working towards my goal. I graduated in June a few weeks after starting my job.
2) I became quite unwell again, my endo got out of control. I was doing really well on the mirena, and then I literally woke up one day in February or March and the pain was back, really bad again. As much as I tried to carry on and focus on my new job, I lost control and the constant pain, along with the stress got so bad that it just didn't work. I have been on sick leave for a while now.
3) I had surgery. I saw my consultant in July, who straight away agreed for me to finally have a laparoscopy to look for endometriosis, and remove it with laser treatment. I had my coil removed as it was no longer working, started having the depo-provera injection instead, and had my surgery three weeks ago. During the surgery they diagnosed me with endometriosis on my ovaries and on the outside of my uterus. I was also diagnosed with adenomyosis, which is endometriosis in the muscle of the uterus.
I've shown these pictures to a few people to help them understand both conditions (the first one shows endometriosis, the second one adenomyosis):
During my surgery, they were able to treat the endo, however could not treat the adenomyosis as this would involve a separate procedure. Both conditions are very painful and can cause infertility. There is no cure. To be diagnosed after having such severe pain for over two years was such a relief, but I'm now having to come to terms with a lot of difficult things, which I will write about in another post.
Three weeks on, I am feeling stronger and I'm proud of myself. The last few months have easily been some of the hardest of my life. For a while, I felt depressed and lost, which is why I didn't post here. I have reached my long-term goal of becoming an OT, but haven't really been able to enjoy it because every day has been so hard. In the past, the one thing that has really helped me during difficult times was having a goal to work towards. I am trying to use this now. One of my goals now is to raise awareness of endometriosis and help other people who are struggling as much as possible. My blog is going to become much more endo orientated so I can put my story out there and help others. The picture below is of myself the day after my surgery. You cannot see it very clearly here, but my stomach is very swollen and I look a bit pregnant. My stomach is back to a more normal size now and my scars are healing well.
No comments:
Post a Comment