My story is one that I hope will be of use to other women who have been on a similar path and had no clear guidance or direction to follow. I’ve found that women’s health issues are so generalized. More and more I’m hearing about so many of us who suffer in silence, trusting our doctors to run the right tests, make the correct diagnosis, and prescribe the right treatment. All while we feel helpless, and often times hopeless. EmpowHer is a voice for all of us who are pushed aside, told that we are crazy, and often times, misdiagnosed. We all deserve the best healthcare, doctors, specialists, medicines, and treatment. Should be simple to get the proper treatment for specialized conditions, right?

While experiencing a health crisis at 39, I was not prepared for the twists and turns my healing journey would take me on. But, I was determined to see it through and promised myself that I would write about it even if it just helps 1 person. It’s important for me to note, that I am NOT a doctor, or a medical expert of any kind. What I discuss in my blog will be solely based on my own experiences, and what helped me to heal. I am also NOT selling any products or representing anyone other than myself when I discuss the conditions that I have been working through. I’m simply letting you know my story, and providing you with the resources I wish I had when I was sick.

The night my family and I celebrated my 39th birthday at my favorite restaurant, with my favorite dessert (Mississippi mud pie!), I was a ball of nerves, as I was just about to have surgery. A routine surgery that many women eventually have, which I believed would help my overall health in the long run. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I had suffered for years with painful, heavy periods. I chalked it up to being a “woman”, and that I just needed to “suck it up, buttercup”. I’d pop Advil or Tylenol like it was candy, just to make it tolerable. I still vividly remember as a teenager, bent over on the floor of my bedroom, trying to relieve the cramps. My stomach was always off during my time of the month, with terrible bowels and gas. But again, everyone kept telling me that this was all normal, and it was PMS.

So, I accepted “normal” and moved on thinking that this was just something I needed to deal with. As I grew older, especially after I had my daughter at 23, everything seemed to get worse. The cramps, bleeding, and now…back pain that took my breath away. I needed to live on a heating pad the first few days of my period, or the pain was unbearable, even with the Advil or Tylenol. 

My OB GYN, who I trusted for years, had told me he felt it was likely I had endometriosis, especially since my mother and grandmother both had it as well. Both my mother and grandmother had hysterectomy’s in their early 30’s as a result. He told me that most women decide to have a hysterectomy or ovary removal to help resolve the pain. I was offered nothing else, just “surgery”. I decided not to move forward with any surgery at the time, as I wanted to try and conceive. He told me it would be difficult and that IVF would be a good option.

To learn more about Endometriosis, click here.

My husband and I decided to get serious about trying for another baby when my daughter was 3, I was 30 at the time. After months of negative pregnancy tests turned into a year or two, I knew something wasn’t right. My husband has testing done, which didn’t show any abnormalities. I looked into IVF, but it would have cost us approx. $12,000 for a “chance”. I also wasn’t prepared for the possibility of twins. So, my doctor decided it was time for an ultrasound, which showed several cysts on my ovaries. My OB GYN told me that they should go away on their own, and that we would “watch” them. Some did spontaneously burst, and WOW… the pain that caused was unbearable! When a cyst would burst on it’s own, I would feel a strong piercing pain in my lower abdomen that brought me to my knees and knocked the breath out of me! I prayed for another baby, and decided that IVF or any additional tests were not something I wanted to pursue. I gave my burden of making the right/wrong decision with this to God, I couldn’t carry it anymore, and I was at peace with having just one child of my own.

After monitoring my cysts with ultrasound every 6 months, we found that there was one cyst that was not going away, in fact, it was getting larger. He ran several blood tests, one which was called a CA125; a cancer marker. He didn’t explain this to me, and of course, I was panicked when I saw the lab test and didn’t know how to interpret the results. Thankfully, it was negative. However, his recommendation was to remove the cyst laparoscopically. He explained that this could mean that my left ovary would need to be removed completely, depending on how bad the cyst was. But, he also assured me that I may still be able to get pregnant, since I had one remaining healthy ovary. I was 38 when he preformed my surgery, which was called a salpingo-oophorectomy, meaning… he removed my left ovary and left fallopian tube. I was prepared for this outcome, and recovery went well. I had about 3-6 months of noticeable relief where my symptoms were not bad during my period. I didn’t know it then, but everything was about to change, and I was no way prepared for it.