Two Peas in a Pod!

IC is like a preteen girl at the mall. It travels in a small troop never veering too far from its gal pals, perhaps less glitter than a girl of such an age (please tell me preteens still wear glitter?!?) but the analogy is viable none the less. IC is a popular little thing with many potential besties waiting at its skirt to be accepted into the clique of chronic illness.

As far as I can tell after meeting hundreds of people with IC over the years, some of IC’s closest bosom buddies are IBS- irritable bowel syndrome, Fibromyalgia, vulvadynia, PFD- pelvic floor dysfunction, anxiety, and depression. However, I would say IC’s BFF is endometriosis… that little… meanyface. Those two are just two peas in a pod... you can't go too far with one without meeting the other...

I am very fortunate that out of all of those listed I am only cursed with a small handful including IC, vulvadynia, pfd and of course… endometriosis. Man, I really hate that one and it takes a lot for me to hate something that I’m comparing to a preteen in low rise jeans and  parent forbidden make up. (I have a special love for the pre-teen age, maybe because that was right before I got sick or maybe just because drama back then was never more than who had held hands with who and which house my friends and I would spend the night at that weekend.) Never the less, this little endometriosis poser isn’t what she may appear. She’s a cold hearted, pelvis stabbing, devil mistress. So there.

Before the letters I and C had any special meaning to me my journey with endometriosis was quite under way. I started my period at the innocent age of 9 years old and problems started not long after. Each cycle progressively brought worse pain and harder cramps until my Mom announced we were going to see a “women’s doctor”… I promptly stated that I would not be attending any such appointment and she should have a merry time without me. To further prove my point on the day of the appointment, with help from my ever-eager-to-help-me-get-into-trouble sister, I tied myself to a tree with a water ski rope. 

Now you see why I had a ski rope lying around... I had some mad skills back in the day! 

After untying me from the giant tree that our tree house resided my Mom herded me to the car and we headed for the appointment. Despite all my fears and further proving my Mom's validity the appointment ended up being totally fine! The kind, composed doctor made me feel totally at ease even though this doctor was a… MAN! He was the sweetest man I could have conjured to chat with about my young lady business. Dr. Dennis Brown is his name and I couldn’t be more proud to be his patient still to this day.

He prescribed me a low dose of birth control pills to help regulate and ease up my cycle and said to come back if it didn't help. Later after a conference with my Dad I was told it would just be called my “medicine” to keep any questionable thoughts from others at bay.

Of course the “medicine” did nothing to alleviate my symptoms and I found myself back at the doctor in worse pain than before. So at age 14 I went “under the knife” for the first time. During that first laparoscopy my kind sir of a doctor determined that I already had fairly severe endometriosis and he lasered off every trace of it.

No matter what kind or how high a dose of “medicine” I took my cramps came back within a year of the laparoscopy. So my faithful and sure doctor determined that we had to stop the growth and the only way to do that was to go through menopause. So out came the heavy duty drugs. I was to come in once a month for an injection of a drug called Lupron that would force my body into FULL BLOWN menopause at the shockingly young age of 15.

Young and sick but still smiling! I admire young me! 

Though the cramps and deep pains did start to subside the side effects from the drug were intense for my already wonky, hormonal, teenaged self. The hot flashes were the worst part, I would be somewhere minding my own business when SUDDENLY my blood would seemingly burst into FLAMES! It was heat coming from deep inside me that could not be distinguished by any amount of cold. When the hot flashes came I tried freezing showers, standing in the cold weather outside in my new uniform of shorts and tank top, even rolling down the window in the car with freezing rain pelting me as I hung my head out the window like a drooling German Sheppard! Eventually I stole a dress-up feather fan from my niece that I used until it looked like a badly plucked chicken

The mood swings were just as intense. I would be fine and then suddenly, not fine. The most infamous story is about me sitting on the couch sobbing as my mom and sister stared at me with concern from the kitchen. I was crying over a commercial advertising Bounce dryer sheets, it was something about a mom and daughter skipping through a field? I’m not sure…. It got me good though. Deep down. I don't think I have any buried emotions about laundry products in general, maybe some counseling on this topic would be helpful... 

After 9 months or so of being on the Lupron my doctor decided to take me off of it and put me on a back to back birth control that hopefully wouldn’t allow my period to ever rear its evil little head while continuously taking it. Surprisingly enough it worked for a while, or maybe it was just the severity of the IC distracting me… hard to say…But suddenly at age 19 my endometriosis showed back up with a vengeance and my doctor put me immediately back on Lupron. Full on side effects and all.  As my now husband would attest, I sweat my way through our dating life. Attractive.

Dating my now hubby, he liked me even though I was 20 and  menopausal! 

Fast forward 2 years and you’d find me still on lupron and a happy newlywed on my honeymoon in beautiful Maui! It was the most perfect setting, I had my handsome brand new husband at my side, adorable bathing suits ready to be swum in, tall pina coladas ready to be drunk… and yet I laid in the bed at the hotel a sad fraction of the time in sheer misery. I don’t know why that cursed endometriosis chose then to make its returning debut but it did.

On our honeymoon! Even though I was hurting it was still a once in a lifetime trip and full of treasured memories! 

Two months later my new husband brought me home to our new love nest after my second laparoscopy. My still faithful doctor had now diagnosed me with stage 4, out of 4, endometriosis. Hello life sentence.

I stayed on track with the lupron and endured the sweating and crying for 2 years after that until suddenly I got a fever. Yep, a bad fever that just wouldn’t let up, I had full blown “Iwantababyosis”… Happens to the very best of us. So my doctor that had known me since I was ankle high to a June bug… or however that saying goes… was suddenly talking to me about my chances of having a baby!

Obviously the first thing we had to do was stop the injections and start my dreaded periods back up but the one trepidation was the longer I was completely off any sort of drug to regulate my hormones the more the endometriosis would grow, and with a vengeance after being set free! So he prescribed me progesterone to try to jump start my period and after a short (i.e. Very long) 10 months I had my first period in 4 years. It was the worst week of my life, seriously no doubt, the worst week of my whole life. Dr. Brown gave us intricate instructions on when to um… attempt to make a baby… and we followed them to a T but when it was time to take the pregnancy test a big fat NEGATIVE was all there was. After two more months with the same miserable periods and giant negative results my doctor suggested we try a beginning infertility drug called Clomid. This time he had even more detailed directions to follow but we were rewarded with a POSITIVE!!!

Holy hot biscuits. I was pregnant. I was going to be a mom.

Finally pregnant and so happy to be!

Of course as the next 9 months flew by, I had no endometriosis pains and was blessedly hot flash free… but unfortunately for my loved ones the whole hormone thing was kicked up even a few more levels higher!! I could have saved a thirsty country with the gallons of tears I cried! 

Next thing I knew, at the age of 24, I had delivered a chubby cheeked vision on September 12, 2011. Hallelujah.  Every cramp I had every had was entirely worth it because it made this tiny person possible. My body that had betrayed me in every single way for so many years had given me the best gift I could ever be given. My heart started beating solely for him. What a small price to pay. 

Love at first sight.

In spite of exclusively nursing my little bundle my vindictive period was back within 3 months of my son’s birth and since I was committed to nursing him I refused to go back on the Lupron and settled for the Depo-Provera shot instead. It took about 8 months after starting it for my period to stop again but good riddance. Unfortunately the powers of the depo are only so strong…

Three weeks ago the sweet noise from the baby monitor of my now 17 month old greeting morning with his usual sunshiny joyful babble woke me but before I could even open my eyes cramps stole my breath. I tried to be calm and assess everything throughout the morning but finally I asked my Mom to take me to the emergency room. I was trying to convince myself maybe my appendix had busted or something. Of course it hadn’t… I was sent home saying to eat some bland food and drink lots of water. The next morning the pain was just as intense so I called my pal Dr. Brown and fortunately he had an appointment that very day.

After explaining everything that had been going on he determined the best thing to do was to go back in and see what was going on in there. He explained that ovaries are as sensitive as an eye balls so even if a bit of that nasty endometriosis has grown back it could definitely be the culprit. Unfortunately he was scheduled pretty far out so I've been so crampy for weeks with nothing to do but wait for the day to come that he can laser all that poison off of my body. 

Not feeling good these days but so happy with my little love! 

Thank Goodness that day is finally here! I am going in later today for my 3^rd laparoscopy which is also my 21^st surgery overall. If I remember correctly the recovery isn’t too bad and I should be back to my version of normal in no time, hopefully without the cramping!!

This blog ended up going in a completely different direction than I expected but it was kind of cool to write out my endometriosis story just 12 hours before lasering it off for the third time in 11 years. This has basically been my endometriosis story in a nut shell… if a nutshell was the size of a rather large hot air balloon… Anyway please pray that I get some answers, lots of pain relief, and an east recovery! Thanks for reading, I'll update again as soon as I can! Hopefully with pictures of my mutilated ovaries, cool!