Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. My husband and I decided to hold off on plans for surgery. I have started learning how to chart using the Creighton model and we want to see what information we gain from doing that first. I am a little unsure if we will find help just through charting, though, but for now I am putting my trust in God that this is where He wants us. We have our second meeting with our instructor this weekend, and I will have a month of charting done by then, so I'm eager to hear what she thinks of it. It's a little frustrating that the only way to confirm that I have endo is through surgery. Obviously, there are symptoms and signs, but I only really have the very painful periods as a sign. Well, and the difficulty in getting pregnant. Is painful periods alone enough to justify surgery? Is it possible to have that surgery and still experience painful periods after?
Honestly, the questions and uncertainties surrounding a surgery right now are hard for us to justify financially. It makes me feel bad admitting that but it's true. Less than a year ago we bought a house and I stopped working shortly after we were married. I think it's hard because we're not sure that this is a necessary expense for us at this time, too. Painful periods have been my life since I was a teenager, and I always thought when I became pregnant "one day" that my periods after would be easier and less painful. I'm mad at myself for not getting this taken care of before I got married. When I was working, I could have underwent surgery, but I didn't know I would have difficulty getting pregnant, so I was unmotivated to look seriously at my painful periods. I just popped the Aleve like it was going out of style. My Mom always worried about me with how many pills I would have to take each cycle. But apparently she didn't worry enough because I just kept doing it and she never took me to get it looked into. Ugh. Oh well, there is no use getting upset about it now. I think we will try charting for a while to see what information is revealed through that and if surgery looks more and more necessary down the road, then we will reevaluate at that time. Right now we just don't have enough information pointing to surgery being the answer for us.
We recently had our power out for a week after a big fall / winter storm. There were so many leaves on the trees still and the weather wasn't cold enough, so the snow that fell was heavy and wet. Bad, bad news, people! The weird thing is, about two weeks before this storm hit, which by the way, we were NOT prepared for one bit, I was talking to my husband and some of our friends wondering if we needed a back up heating system in our house, just in case the power went out in the winter. I'm convinced it was my guardian angel trying to get things in motion, perhaps to prepare us for the storm that was coming? But we ended up agreeing that the power hardly ever goes out in the winter from a snow storm. Ha! We were all laughing about that conversation while sitting around the fireplace one evening during the power outage. How weird is that to have talked about the very situation we found ourselves in just two weeks earlier? Especially since everyone (but me! :) ) was so certain that a back up heating system was not needed.
So, I'm happy to report we are looking into getting a wood stove for our little home. :) I am super excited. I love the idea of tending this future stove and keeping the house warm while my husband is away winning the bread, hehe. I feel like I am a colonial woman and I love it. We have electric heat, so it should save us money on heating for sure. The brand we're looking at is called Jotul. I'd never heard of it before, but it is cute, cost effective and will heat our home. It isn't cheap, but we figure it's an investment and necessary for us, especially after this past storm. Last week's Gospel was about being prepared and keeping your lamps burning, for we know not the day nor the hour. The deacon advised us all to be prepared for the upcoming word changes to the Mass this November 27th and then said he hopes we all have our lamps (and furnaces, ha!) burning soon. Stay warm, all!
Hi! I am happy to have helped you with my post. Your history sounds a lot like mine, I had terrible pain with periods and worried about taking so many meds.
ReplyDeleteI know it seems like a terrible expense...but it really depends on your insurance. We had awful insurance and paid for much of it out of pocket, and I don't regret it for a second. Even before conceiving I knew in my heart that surgery was the right thing to do--I had such little pain with my periods after surgery, it was like I had my life back.
God will show you what's right for you. If He wants you to do the surgery, He'll make sure it works out financially.
Oh, and I noticed in a post you mentioned changing up your diet...you may want to google the anti-inflammatory diet, that's one thing Dr. H had told me to look into. It's supposed to help with endo pain.
Thanks so much for your sweet comment. I'm so sorry for all you are going through. It sounds like Hebrews had some good advice. You'll be in my prayers!
ReplyDeleteTry not to beat yourself up about your health in the past. You are taking steps to improve it now, and that is the important thing.
ReplyDeleteI do think you may have some amount of endo, just given your painful periods, but with that said, it doesn't mean you have to do surgery as your 1st step. I was hesitant to jump into surgery right away because there's not a Napro trained surgeon nearby and it would be a huge financial and time cost. I also knew I had other things going on in my cycle (PCOS, not ovulating, poor progesterone, etc.) My Napro Dr. and I set up a plan that we were both comfortable with (6 optimized cycles, etc.) before I would consider surgery. I always knew surgery was on the back burner, but I wanted to try and get some of the other issues addressed first. I knew I would be ready for surgery when/if the time came, but so far it hasn't for me. Everyone is different and depending on your circumstances, it may make sense for you to wait on surgery or to do it towards the beginning. That's something your Napro Dr. can help you determine according to your situation.
Thru NaPro and charting, I discovered that I had Endometriosis Stage II-III. Like you, I always had painful periods and popped pills like they were going out of style. Having my surgeries really helped - the pain is SO minimal / gone that most months I don't take any pain meds. I am supposed to be on a anti-inflammatory diet (aka the Endometriosis Diet), so I know that's why I've had some pain during a few cycles.
ReplyDeleteEven if you don't do surgery, Congrats for pursuing NaPro! You'll find answers there. Don't be so down on yourself. I waited plenty long myself to start charting and get treatment. Now that you know ... you can do something about it. :-) Praying for you!