Endometriosis Surgery, Interstitial Cystitis, and Beyond

To read more on my Endometriosis journey, head here. Keep scrolling to read Endometriosis Surgery, Interstitial Cystitis Treatment, and Beyond.

Hello, friends!

Man, oh, man, it’s been a week. It’s exactly one week to the day since I had a laparoscopic surgery for the removal of my Endometriosis. For some reason, I was more nervous for this surgery – maybe it was because this time it was with a new doc, or maybe it was because it’d been a few years since my last surgery and I was afraid of what he’d find.

Surgery Findings

What did they find? Endo, lots of it, 20 different spots to be exact. They also found scar tissue that was binding things together that aren’t supposed to be connected, which felt like a constant pulling. This explains so much, it explains why I was in so much pain daily. And I can honestly say that for the first time in years, I can’t feel my Endo pain. But, I started to feel something else, a painful burning in my bladder.

Interstitial Cystitis

Now that my Endometriosis pain is gone, I can feel my Interstitial Cystitis more than ever. I was diagnosed with this painful bladder condition a few years ago, tried one medication for it (Elmiron) but it was too intense and made me feel sick and made my hair start falling out. Since then, I really haven’t done anything for it. My doctor has been incredible throughout this whole experience, and he’s very experienced treating Interstitial Cystitis and has some great ideas – first thing, is called an IC Rescue. It’s a small in-office procedure where a tube is inserted into your bladder and your bladder is filled with a medicine to fill the cracks in your bladder. Think of your bladder with teeny tiny little slits in it, those slits are painful when something acidic like your urine touches them, hence the Interstitial Cystitis pain. This procedure will fill up all of those little slits so it’s more difficult for them to be penetrated by the acidity of my body.

The Future

So for now, I’m hopeful. I’m a little nervous about having an IC Rescue done this week, but I’m hopeful that it will help me. I will also be starting the IC Diet this week that will assist in keeping highly acidic foods out of my diet. Yep, no caffeinated coffee, chocolate, soda – all of the good stuff, no more.

But, you know what? That’s okay. I woke up today in less pain than I’ve ever experienced. I woke up feeling sore from surgery, but GOOD. And I’m so chasing that feeling – I’m chasing this health and wellness journey until the bottom of my feet are sore – because I deserve a life that’s not limited by pain, and so do you.

Will the Endometriosis Come Back?

The short answer, probably. If it came back after multiple surgeries, having my uterus removed, having my ovaries removed, etc – then, yep, it will probably rear it’s ugly head again. But when it does, i’ll be ready to face all of this again – because..

I WILL NOT LET THIS ILLNESS BEAT ME, EVER.

Sending light & love to everyone out there who is fighting something difficult. We are stronger than we think, and together, we can overcome anything! If you have Endometriosis and you’re looking for support – please join our FB support group, we’d love to have you!

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