It was 3am on a Tuesday morning and I was curled in the fetal position on a bed that wasn’t my own craving my tempurpedic pillow, my dog, maybe some ice chips(?) – and for what felt like the monster stabbing my insides to get the eff out of my body. I had slumbered at my sister’s to watch Bachelor in Paradise (which is really delivering this season!) and decided to stay the night in her guest room.
As tears silently dripped through my lashes waiting for my alarm to alert the presses of a new day, I thought about how nice it must be for the girls on BIP to be suffering from heartache (that, let’s be honest, would easily be healed once a new, hunkier suitor stepped onto the beach) rather than the chronic, debilitating pain happening inside me. Does any of the cast feel like this when their #SharkWeek rolls around?
Like other female reproductive disorders, endometriosis is often misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all, which is why I decided to speak out about my journey a few months back. See: White House Correspondence Dinner. One in ten women is way too many to be affected and I think the more we open up about this disease, the easier it will be to talk about.
While endo doesn’t have a cure, I think it’s important to stress that having this disease does not make you a victim whatsoever. I’m happy to report that I took the bull by the horns and had the laparoscopic diagnostic and endometriosis excision surgery a few days ago. The painful culprit of the disorder stems from tissue that’s supposed to live inside of your uterus, but instead grows on the outside –
attaching itself to random organs like a spider web (yum!). Mine was found on my appendix, colon, diaphragm and bladder – tmi, I know.
For those of us suffering, educating yourself on the topic and understanding how to help your body (i.e. eating TONS of avocados, maintaining a gluten free lifestyle, and keeping the blood flowing aka dancing – a lot!) is extremely paramount when flare-ups happen. So I urge anyone reading this that has similar symptoms to please go get checked out because the pain is not normal.
Halsey put it best when she said that it’s possible to live a crazy, wild and fulfilled life while balancing treatment. And if she was able to walk the Grammys red carpet with stitches in her stomach, I will most definitely be seeing you all at NYFW next weekend!
Special thanks to Sam, Ashley, Jenneh, Julianne, and Dr. Karen Tang who literally .. cue Uncle Joey .. “cut.it.out” of my system. I am forever grateful to you all for the support and guidance through this process. Endo sisters for life. x
