It’s now August 13th, 2002, almost a full year has passed since my laser laproscopy that I had with ob/gyn #3. The morning after the surgery, I wanted to clean my room but Michael wouldn’t let me know. That’s how good I felt. I had no endo pain – just surgery pain.
I started my 5th semester at college in September and it was so nice to actually sit and be able to focus. Of course, I over did it like usual and ended up taking a full 3 months to recover from the operation. I guess driving just over an hour to and from college every day, walking around with a heavy backpack, running up and down stairs and working in the bookstore was just too much two weeks after my surgery. The first period after my lap came as quite a shock to me. It hurt so much that I was completely shocked by the amount of pain I was now in. Once the period was over, so was the pain. My periods continued on this way, being very painful for a few months. I of course no longer had the pain 24/7 and was actually sleeping, but as soon as my period came, I was hunched over.
During exam time in December, I had a really bad bout with pain. It was so bad that I even broke down crying in front of everyone. I don’t think anyone really knew just how much pain I could be in until that day. I was writing my accounting exam in the LRC, as I did not get along with the professor – he believed that women had no place in the business world. I wrote my exam hunched over my hot water bottle crying. Needless to say I somehow managed to pull my mark up above 60%.
Around the end of January, I started to have some pain on the left side. I kept brushing it aside saying it was just endo pain, nothing I couldn’t cope with. Even though inside I was really scared that it really was the endo coming back. At the insistence of my boyfriend, I finally caved in and went and saw my family doctor. It was not endo – it was a very severe kidney infection. She gave me some tablets called Macrobid and sent me on my way. Since having those tablets, my periods have been pretty much pain free. I get mild cramps for the first day, which I can get rid of by taking Extra Strength Tylenol. Other than that, I have no pain. Now this points out that I probably wasn’t just experiencing endo pain with my periods, but also pain from a kidney infection. This doesn’t really surprise me at all since I did have endo on the ureter and I had kidney problems when I was younger.
I have discovered in the past couple of months just how much stress can effect a person’s body. I have found that my periods are worse when I am under a lot of stress and the pain increases.
The doctor who did my laser lap a year ago, is my saviour. He gave me my life back. I was no longer in a dazed state of painkillers and I was no longer crying all night from the pain. I could hold my head up and actually focus on what I was doing. I could sleep at night in a comfortable position as opposed to getting a couple hours sleep curled up in a ball. I am very thankful that I found this doctor when I did.