What causes pain and stumps doctors? Endometriosis.

You all tired of my saga yet?  I know some family and friends are, but I am going to share anyhow.

I am backtracking with these posts a bit. This is from the Middle of February.

After nobody could decide what my inguinal growth was or wasn't. I scheduled a telephone consult with Dr. Dulemba.  Because what causes pain and stumps doctors? Endometriosis. 

The consult went great. He always know just what to say and what questions to ask.  I had also had some bowel issues again and other thing like my painful ovaries that I was mostly set to ignore but he included them in the mix. 

We mulled over whether my groin pain could be a hernia, or endo or both. He concluded it would be best to take care of the gyn problems since we knew they existed instead of jumping into hernia surgery that may not even be a hernia.  He felt there was a likely chance that I also had adhesions. That 3-6 post op months is when they tend to really start causing drama.  We talked about the possibility of removing my ovaries, since I felt that they were a huge source of pain still.

I said to him "I am beginning to feel like this is all in my head again."  He reassured me it was not in my head and that he would do what he could to help figure out what the pain exactly was.

So the next morning I emailed his scheduler. He had an opening for surgery the next week.  I was shocked as I was sure I would have to wait longer, and if I didn't take the appointment I would have to wait another month for the next opening.  After some crazy logistical calculations and discussions we decided to take that surgery date.  I have to say that my husband is the most wonderful person!  He never questioned it once, or was upset to have to have kids for 10 days or attempt to work from home.  He just wanted me to feel better. 

My mom was able to take the time to go down and help me through surgery. I am extremely grateful for her help.

Now this is not like planning a normal surgery, in your hometown, where you get to come home after your surgery to your own house. I would be flying from MT to TX and back again 9 days later, after 2 surgeries.  SCARY STUFF!

I was able to get a medical rate through Delta for the airfare which helped and the hotel had a hospital discount.  This was still not going to be cheap, but at least the surgeon took my insurance.

Over the week waiting for surgery, I felt immense guilt. Guilt that after one surgery that was supposed to fix me up, I was still in pain, still unable to be a good mom and wife, and costing our family more money. I was terrified he wouldn't find anything wrong. Yep, after all those years of being told it was all in my head and to lose weight, it still stuck with me. Even after an official diagnosis. I was terrified of being a hypochondriac.  Or that my pain wasn't really that bad.

This says a lot about what its like. https://www.buzzfeed.com/laraparker/what-its-like-to-get-diagnosed-with-a-chronic-illness?