I'm being referred to someone in Lethbridge, thank God, but until I get an appointment, Dr. Wagner from Calgary will continue to help me by phone appointments and renewing my perscriptions...
No leukocytes since the scare last year, just so y'all. Thank God.
I had surgery for endometriosis today: a D&C, a hysteroscopy, and an IUD replacement. It was done at South Health Campus by Dr. Wagner. It was day surgery that is intended to help me with my endometriosis. It's something I've lived with for a while and this surgery will help me continue to live with it as best I can.
The surgery lasted about an hour and I ended up having five naps throughout the day after. Follow-up is set to be six weeks after the fact.
December 8, 2022
My first appointment at the Women's Health Centre at the South Campus in Calgary went well. I'm so grateful I got in on a cancellation and was able to meet Dr. Wagner. She went over my health notes and we talked about my pain, my lupron, my Topiramate, and my health journal. She decided that I should go off the Lupron for a few months to see if the IUD could hold me together by itself.
March 13, 2023
Today's appointment involved me discussing my medical concerns, as I had several: scheduling IUD replacement surgery because the IUD is only supposed to be in a body for 5 years and 2014 is the year is supposed to be the replacement year because it was inserted in 2019 and a D&C/hysteroscopy might help with pain; my urine tests in late 2023 that tested positive for leukocytes; and my recent low blood pressure.
Dr. Wagner addressed all my concerns. She said the leukocytes weren't a concern as there were no other tests that indicated problems, nor was the low blood pressure a problem. However, she did note that a surgery to replace the IUD and check for pain/bleeding causes would be a good idea and so she said to schedule a date with her receptionist. She also encouraged me to start increasing my physical activity.
BYU Idaho Fall Devotional Series - Part of Degree Coursework
Please respond to the following prompt from Sister Saurey:
How do you cope with feelings of not being enough?
As a Neurodivergent individual who also has endometriosis, I struggle with feelings of not being enough every day and that means I have to literally pray for the Spirit to be with me every day that I can be reminded of my value.
Being Neurodivergent means that I see and interpret both the world and others very differently than Neurotypical individuals do and quite often, I often misinterpret other people, act inappropriately without meaning to, or interpret things in unexpected ways. Or I am slower to react, slower to learn, slower to understand, or slower to interpret than others and there are those who don't like that sort of thing. I am quite often told that my way of functioning is not enough, I am excluded because of how I am, or I am told that my behaviors are choices and that I can choose to do better.
Being Neurodivergent certainly isn't a choice, as I didn't choose to be this way and I really don't like it when people accuse me of choosing my behaviors or the way I interpret/do things. I have written personal essays for the Church's website and for Star Trek websites about what life has been like for me and my life has included things like my family's doctor telling my mother that my three-year old self should be put in a group home because I was too different to be put in the real world; my father deciding and telling my mother and brother that I was unworthy of love because of my disability to the point where my brother believes it to this day; me going to six different elementary schools because educators thought I was too stupid to learn anything. I could go on and on about the personal, social, and academic struggles I have faced throughout life because of my Neurodivergency, but I will just summarize it by saying that I have worked extremely hard to overcome the low expectations people placed upon me to be where I am at today and I have also relied on the graces Christ continually offers me. It is because of the Atonement of Christ that I can give myself permission to look beyond what is flawed about me and focus on what is awesome about me and also find joy in my accomplishments.
In terms of the endometriosis, I was only diagnosed with that in 2017 and it shattered the expectations I personally had about motherhood. I had the fantasies that all LDS girls had when they were youths: I was going to marry in the temple when I was a young adult to a return missionary and have a lot of kids. Well, none of those things have come to pass yet and I have gradually come to learn that such expectations are rather shallow; a man who is active in his holy use of the Priesthood and is temple worthy is a good candidate for a husband whether or not he's served a mission and the way I become a mother doesn't matter. The way I become a grandmother doesn't matter. It sure mattered to me back when I was first diagnosed because I felt so broken and unholy. I felt as if I had failed in what a woman was supposed to do and it took a visit to the Calgary Temple (which is three hours from where I live) and a very deep conversation with Laurel Day during a break at a Time Out For Women event to help me get out of that 'broken mindset.' I still grieve over it and I still very much grieve over the endometriosis, especially having the feeling of knowing what the outcome of my struggle with it is probably going to result in. However, I've gotten to the point where I can openly talk about it and even write about it now: I've written a blog about my journey with it, I've written an article for the Church of Jesus Christ website about it, and I've written an article for a Star Trek website about it. I also don't see myself as a piece of broken, unfixable junk anymore. I allow God and Christ to encircle me with their love, grace, and revelations concerning my journey with it and the reminders of my value that they give me. I also let them guide me to opportunities that will let me give life to other things that I can put into the world or other people I can be a good influence over.
I had to get my Lupron shot today from a pharmacist cause I have no doctor anymore. She replaced the needle but it was barely smaller than the one in the photo. It was a relief that she was able to give me the shot so my endometriosis-laden body doesn't fall apart even though I don't have a doctor anymore. Thank God for pharmacists.
I got my Lupron shot on August 8, 2022 and that will keep me okay til October/November.
Unfortunately, my body went into overdrive hell in terms of endometriosis symptoms and made me extremely ill: bleeding, pain, cramps, and diarrhea that made me ill for at least a week, and resting or physiotherapy didn't help nor did food adjustments, so I sought to make an appointment with my GP, but I found out that Dr. Saif was gone - later, I found to Ontario. Thus, I was forced to phone Dr. Topping for an appointment. I got in within two days of my call and when I went to see Dr. Topping, she said I was doing okay with what I was doing, but suggested I drop the estradot because it might make a difference. She also recommended I get a GP, which is impossible at the moment because Lethbridge doctors are currently not accepting new patients period. I did go off the estradot as recommended and I did some more food adjustments (stopped quinoa bread and dairy free yogurt). I am also keeping off sugar as much as possible and doing minimal self-monitored physiotherapy while being mindful of the heat, as the heat really has a bad effect on me. On top of that, I made sure I had enough perscriptions to get me through the year and made an agreement with a pharmacy to get my Lupron shots as I need them til I can get a GP.
Hopefully, my body will do well until a doctor can be found or my appointment in Calgary comes through. At least I am not going to lose that even though I am losing my OB and GP.
April and May has been yet another downturn in my health.
Around the middle of April, I got massively sick with diarrhea, bleeding, pain, etc. and called in to my GP for a referral to another gynecologist because I felt my current one wasn't doing what she could. I went to the GP and she wanted baseline bloodwork.
I quickly scheduled that bloodwork, as I just wanted to get it done. The initial labs said elevated liver enzymes, so the doctor ordered repeat labs with more tests and an ultrasound. I went and got the repeat labs scheduled and done that very day.
May 18, 2022
The second time I went was pretty much as challenging as the first with finding veins; the lab tech had a hard time...tied the tie around both arms and tapped for veins before finally using my right hand and a butterfly needle.
May 25, 2022
The repeat bloodwork was allegedly normal, so they said on the phone, but I went and did the ultrasound anyway. I got a male tech and he ended up doing scans from sternum to a dry pelvis scan because he wanted to be thorough. He took about 57 pictures in all and it was gentle, but some of the areas hurt very much when they were pressed upon. The scan was only supposed to be abdominal, focusing on the liver, so I find it interesting that he included the pelvis and when I asked about it and mentioned the endo, he said that if it was very bad, they would see it in the scans.
June 1, 2022
Ultimately, there was no reason in the ultrasound to explain the elevated enzyme and I was advised to keep an eye on it.
