Living With the Pain

I remember being eleven years old when my menses started. Doubled over in pain, I begged to stay home from school. My parents allowed this for two days, then came the speech. My father told me that this "pain" would be happening for the rest of my life and I needed to learn to live with it. "Canceling school and appointments for a week every month just isn't practical. I know it hurts but you are just going to have to find a way. That's life."
Dad was right. Canceling one fourth of anyone's life is not only impractical, but a near impossible trick to pull off. There is just so far that the philosophy of grin and bear it can take a girl. I used 600mg of Ibuprofen every four hours to help me through the tough time of the month.
When the pain became stronger than pills, I learned about applied heat, dandelion root, ginger, chaste berry, and elimination diets. I tried the pill,acupuncture,faith healing,chiropractic, massage,reiki,biofeedback and visualization. Physicians passed me around like a hot potato referring me to internists, gynecologists, oncologists,and psychiatrists. I got the hint when they stopped returning my phone calls.
Sometime in my early thirties I gave up. I began scheduling time off during my time of the month. For a week every month I stayed in my pajamas and took naps while the kids were in school. It worked for a while.
And then it didn't. One night the pain became so intense that I was hospitalized for a few days. Doctors argued and tests were inconclusive. I was fed pain medication and antibiotics through an IV. When I asked why I was in the hospital, the only answer that was given was "abdominal pain". When I asked what caused the pain I was given the talk about how doctors practice medicine. Sometimes doctors just do not know.
I knew I was in pain. So,I found a local gynecologist who kept me comfortable on narcotics until he could schedule a hysteroscopy, laproscopy and burn the lining of my uterus. The scopes were intended to pinpoint the source of pain. The burning was to clear me of diseased endometrial tissue.
Three polyps were found and removed from my cervix and the uterus was swollen and globular. The doctor called the next day to apologize. It looked to him like I had a condition called Adenomyosis. He offered to take some blood tests to rule out any other underlying conditions that might cause pain. My normal life had screeched to a halt for 3 months. I needed to get back into living life but that darn pain would not let up.
Two weeks later at the post op appointment options were laid out before me. My options were hormonal treatments,a referral to a pain management facility or a hysterectomy. I knew it all already. These were all unacceptable to me. The side effects alone would be more than I was willing to bear. I had taken the two weeks to educate myself on Adenomyosis and its treatments. So when the doctor asked me what I wanted to do, I showed him a fourth option.
It was a printed article from The New York Times chronicling the unique surgical technique of Dr. Michael Toaff. I had found his website by Googling the word "Adenomyosis". The site was easy to read and understand. It informed me that the pain would only get worse over time without treatment. Dr. Toaff spoke of a surgery that he had perfected in removing the disease while leaving the healthy uterus and my body in balance. Having read the article in The New York Times, I felt I could trust it. But it was a big decision to make alone. So I sent the information and website link to my friends and asked,"What would you do?"