Encouragment for Those with Endometriosis

I am a 25 year old female who has been living with a severe case of endometriosis for over 4 years and I must say it has been one of the hardest things I have had to deal with. I have had 1 surgery in which my right ovary was removed and am about to have another one because the disease has scar both of my fallopian tubes shut. I have no children and am married to a wonderful husband who's greatest dream is to have a little one to carry his name.

2004 was when I was first diagnosed with the disease. I had been having excruciating pain during my cycles that would sometimes lead to vomiting and visits to the emergency room. The surgery was suppose to be quick and easy. They were suppose to go in laproscopiclly remove the endometriosis and call it a day. Well it didn't turn out that way. Once I woke up and saw the look on the faces of those that were there to support me I knew something was wrong. One I came to the I started feeling some pain in my lower abdomen. I Kept asking "What's going on?" But no on would answer. Once we got into my room the doctor came in and told me that the endometriosis was so bad they had to remove my whole right ovary. But that wasn't all, the news got worse. While they were in there they punctured a bowel trying to remove all the scar tissue which led to them having to cut me open from hip to hip. I was in the hospital for about 3 weeks trying to recover. It was a very long painful process, but by faith I made it through.

Once I was released from the hospital and on my way to recovery, I went to visit my OB/GYN for a follow up visit. During this visit, at the age of 22 or 23 I was told that if I wanted to have children, then was the time to start. I was very troubled by this because at the time I was not married and my religious beliefs kept from wanting to just go out there and find me a "baby-daddy" I told him that was probably not going to happen and what could we do to possibly keep the endo from returning. He suggested Lupron and Birth control. What the two of these things does is slows the reproduction of estrogen within a woman's body. The Lupron shot forces your body into menopause. This is a good thing because endometriosis feeds off of estrogen. If the body is not producing enough estrogen then the endometriosis can not survive. So the endometriosis basically starves. But there were a few side affects with the Lupron. Since you are going through genuine menopause you get all the that comes with that; the hot flashes, the mood swings and some (like myself) even lose hair. But the good thing about it is you don't get a period until the shot is out of your system. This could be anywhere from 3 to 6 months. Once that was completed I was put on the pill which basically did the same thing but was not nearly as strong as the Lupron. I was on and off the pill for about 3 years. I thought since I went through all of what I did, that when the time came for me to have kids it wouldn't be to hard. Unfortunately I found out this was far from the truth...

In Nov of 2006 I married my best friend. Ironically before we even started dating he volunteered to be my sperm donor. I was to that point where m body was telling me that it was something I should start thinking about. But the good Lord had something else in store for us and he soon became my husband. Once we were married we decided to start trying to have kids immediately. We were not trying for long but something was telling me that something was wrong. I was having pain during intercourse. I wasn't having periods but every so often yet when I did they would be long and very painful. I decided to get a referral to see an off base infertility specialist.

A couple weeks ago we had our first appointment with her. She did a trans-vaginal ultrasound, which is the one you have an empty bladder for and they go in vaginally. She told me everything she saw and told me what her concerns were. The ultrasound did not reveal to much that had her extremely worried but there were a couple things that she wanted to check for before she went in to do any surgery. The main thing she wanted to do was make sure that my fallopian tubes were open. She set me up for a Hysterosalpingogram (HSG) also know as "Having your tubes blown out". This is a test where they push dye up through the uterus, through the fallopian tubes and allow it to spill out of the ends of the tubes confirming that the tubes are open. While this is being done you can see everything on the screen in front of you. I thought it would be simple, but once the test actually begun and she started pushing the dye, I was in unbearable pain. It was probably the worse pain I had ever been in. I kept telling them "Stop I can't do anymore...." After what seemed like forever but was only about 30 seconds. They let me lay there to catch my breathe before they came in and gave me the bad news... Both of my tubes were closed. She believed it was do to the scarring caused by the endometriosis. I began to weep cause naturally that was the last thing I wanted to hear. She told me of my options. One was to go in and try and open the tubes. This would allow me to get pregnant naturally. This option was not her number 1 choice because she feared that once the surgery was done, my tubes would immediately scar shut again. The second option was to remove both of the tubes and do an in vitro fertilization. This was her number one choice as was mine. This gave me some hope. The hubby and I talked it over and decided the in vitro was the way to go. Couple days later we received more bad news. Our insurance would not pay for the in vitro procedure. And the military has a 2 to 3 year waiting list to be considered for the procedure and even with that it would still be a few thousand dollars out of pocket. We were devastated. So we had to decide to try the next option with her going in and trying to open the tubes. The thing is if she can't open them she will have to remove them. So the hubby and I are staying prayerful and positive about the situation. My surgery is scheduled for 20 Aug 07.

The point of this post is to not only encourage those who are dealing with this similar issue , but to inform and educate them. Statistics show that about 15 - 20% of woman have endometriosis. Some don't even know it. Some have no pain while others have severe pain. It is a more common disease than people know. It is also the number 1 cause of infertility in woman, and most don't even know it. But even if you do have it you have options. The first thing you should know, which I wish I would've know is removing an ovary should be a last resort. Doctors have said that you really only need a piece of an ovary the size of the tip of you fingernail to get pregnant. So any part of the ovary that can be speared, should be. The other thing is just because you have a left tube with no ovary and a right ovary with no tube does not mean you can not get pregnant. The body is a wondrous thing and you would be surprised at what it can do. And even if you have no tubes and just one ovary that still does not mean that you can't get pregnant. There are many programs out there that would be worth speaking to you fertility specialist about. Now they may be expensive but where there's a will there's a way. They even have financing for this type of thing. And last but not least, and this may boggle your mind, but even if you don't have any of your tubes or any of your eggs still does not mean you can not get pregnant. There is a program called embryo adoption. Basically what it is, is receiving and embryo from someone who had once been through in vitro themselves and getting it implanted into you. If it takes then you care the baby as normal, give birth to it and raise it just like it was yours. So there are many options.

So to all my women living with endometriosis or any other infertility problem, keep your heads up...Do your research. And most of all believe. The mind is a very powerful thing and you will surprised at how far a little faith will take you. Good luck!