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After a seven year hiatus from blogging, I'm back with a new blog! I expect my new blog to be as random as I am, which is to say it will be as chatty, unfiltered, and all over the place as a real life conversation with me.

What's on my mind today? Endometriosis! (What--did you think I was going to ease into this? Ha! Not a chance, my friends.)

I've been pretty quiet on social media about my laparoscopy a few weeks ago but I had my post-op appointment this morning and I'm ready to talk about it. I received good news--everything removed was biopsied and it all came back as endometriosis, including the "cyst" on my right ovary that was causing me pain. This was the best case scenario. Now hopefully the Mirena I got in October will keep the endo at bay until menopause. Hormonal birth control is no longer optional for me--it is a requirement.

Did you know that 1 in 10 women are thought to be affected by endometriosis? The numbers are sketchy, because like so many other women's health issues--research is woefully underfunded and the disease is not particularly well understood. Much of the available information contradicts itself. I am learning from my own experiences, though.

This was my second laparoscopic endo removal in 13 years. Endo is a leading cause of infertility (and was likely a contributing factor to mine). We will never know for sure, but I suspect it also contributed to my ectopic pregnancy in 1999. The endo on my right ovary showed up as a 1cm cyst on ultrasound, which my ob/gyn assured me was far too small of a cyst to cause the pain that brought me into the doctor in the first place. And yet, because of my previous history of endo, we opted for the lap. And because endo causes inflammation, that tiny little "cyst" was indeed causing a great deal of pain.

It was a lesson in self-advocacy for me. When something feels wrong, something IS wrong. Unfortunately, the only way to diagnose endo is through a laparoscopy--which is pretty invasive. But I had many pain-free years after my last lap, so I am hoping for more of the same following this one. I am healing and recovering, more slowly than I would like, but I am improving every day!

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