What can you do to spread awareness!

There are so many ways you can help spread the word about endometriosis.  Please pick a few.  I would love to hear what you are going to do!

Events You Can Do
From Your Living Room

1)      Turn Facebook Yellow for Endometriosis : Really simple, for the month of march let’s have facebook turn yellow! Ask all of your family and friends to do it too.  http://www.endochallenge.com/

2)      Participate in Knock Out Endo’s powerful social media campaign by joining their facebook page and share why you pledge to Knock Out Endo… https://www.facebook.com/Knockoutendo

3)      Donate Money to help Endometriosis Patients or Endometriosis Non-profits. There are awesome non-profits who are campaigning this month who would appreciate your support.

Global Events

1)      On March 28th, communities across theglobe will be working in conjunction with Worldwide EndoMarch to participate in awareness events. Check out their website to see what is going on in your community. EndoMarch is organizing two main events this year in Palo Alto California and Washington D.C. To register for these events and get more information at http://www.endomarch.org/  If you plan on attending the D.C. event make sure to go to the social event the night before run by some of the best leaders in the community: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/endosocial-2015-tickets-15783198973

Oregon Events

1)    on March 8th, I will be in Eugene with my fellow supporters to do a flash mob.  It is going to be a great event!  The Oregon Duck will even be there!
https://www.facebook.com/events/391506197674200/  make sure you are wearing yellow!

Thank you for taking a step to spread awareness about this horrible disease!  It affects far too many women and we need to be more aware of it.

What the EndoMarch means to ME!

Anything I can be a part of that gets the word out to at least one more person, I am going g to be there.  I have suffered in silence for 20 years.  I have had family members laugh at me because there was no way I could be in that much pain, it's just a period.  I have had doctors that don't believe me.  I have felt like crap but pushed through it because I had to be exaggerating it, noone else else seems like their insides are being torn out every month.  No other woman deserves to feel like they have a cork screw digging inside them.  I am a mother of a daughter and the Auntie of my nieces.  They don't deserve to go through this.  Through the publicity of this march I hope that we will help gain awareness for this invisible disease.  No you can't see it.  As my friend Steffanie said today, "if this disease were on the outside of our bodies we would look horrific."  You wouldn't be able to ignore it then so why ignore it now. 

I wish I had all the money in the world and could fly to Washington DC to be at this walk in person!  I wish I healed faster from my surgery and could go to Palo Alto to march.   It's just not feasible this year but I WILL be there next year.  And I will be there in spirit, marching right along with these powerful men and women.  Together we will make a difference.   We will step closer to a cure. We will educate people about invisible illnesses. 

Www.endomarch.org

EndoMarch

What: Endomarch 2014 is an endometriosis awareness event that is happening in cities worldwide.

When: March 13th

Who: Dr. Cameran Nezhat and his team have worked hard to organize this movement. They have recruited volunteers from all over the world to help make this happen. On March 13th, professionals, patients and their loved ones will come together to stand united with the desire to improve the quality of life for patients everywhere with endometriosis.

Where: The march will take place in cites all over the world.  You can see what is happening in your city on the Endomarch website. I will be attending the Endomarch virtually.  But there is a big one happening in Washington DC and in Palo Auto,  CA.  There is a full day of events taking place that goes into the evening. The staff has secured hotel discounts for participants traveling and even some airlines have participated in giving participants discounts. All of that information can be found under “files” on their facebook page.

Why: Endometriosis is a disease that effects at least 1 in every ten 10 women, yet it takes on average ten years for women to get diagnosed due to the lack of education and awareness in the medical field and the general population. There is very little in the way of public awareness for the disease. Women with endometriosis often suffer in silence. Women often are left misunderstood and lose their jobs, friends and the support of their family while left in chronic, debilitating pain. Women lose their organs, their pregnancies, and their fertility as well. Endometriosis has a profound impact on the lives of its patients and those near to the patient. The only way we will see improvement in awareness of the disease, money raised to find better diagnostic and treatment for endometriosis is to come together as a community and make some noise. We need to be heard.

How: Register to attend the march today. Contact a march precinct manager to see what is happening near you.

EndoMarch info can be found www.endomarch.org

Where's the EASY button?

The last few weeks have been full of ups and downs.  I have had better days and worse days.  Good mood, crying my eyes out and raging days.  I guess I just had a false sense of how I was going to feel after my surgery.  I had rose colored glasses on and thought "Hey, I am having surgery, the best out there, I am going to finally feel better."  Wow, I couldn't have been further from the truth.  Yes, the endo pain is gone.  Wow that is amazing.  But now everything else is spiraling out of control.  I am pretty sure I was so focused on my endo pain everything else seem minuscule.

Last week I started Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy.  I was told that because I have been in pain so long this is going to be a longer process than just a few appointments.  Go figure, I have been told that through this whole process.  I have so much damage to the whole pelvic region it, the damage affects my abdomen and into my back and buttocks.  At least I feel comfortable with the therapist since it seems we are going to be spending a lot of time together.  Well, all the work that she did made my muscles and ligaments go crazy.  I have basically been down for the last week.  I am working on relaxing my body and trying to release some of the tension that it is holding, since that is what is causing the issue.  At this point I don't know if I am doing it right or not because I just feel cruddy no matter what.

I have been on an estrogen patch now for three weeks.  My Dr. was hoping it would help the hormones from being crazy and out of control.  Ya it helps for about 48 hours after I put the patch on but the other 24-48 hours I am a crazy mess.  I got told today to wait it out more or we can try an anti-depressant to help with all of that.  I hate not knowing which way to go.  I hate not knowing what to do.

My toes go numb.  My legs and arms go numb.  My joints ache.  Yes I have had this for years but I was hoping it was the endo on something or pushing somewhere that was causing this.  Now I have to figure out what that is.  Did you know endo goes hand in hand with SO MANY different diagnosis!  I don't even know where to start or who to see for it.  So I just sit here.

I am 1 in 10.  I feel more like 1 in a million.  This isn't fair to anyone involved.  I have started to go back to just sucking it up to get things done, to see people or be around them.  I run out of "spoons" quickly lately.  I am ran over and exhausted.  Where is the easy button in all this?  I would take the eraser also!!!  I want this wiped out!!!

If you experience painful periods, heavy bleeding or hard cramps even vomiting with your period, that is not normal.  Please don't wait 20 years to have someone believe you, find that person to support you and then find a doctor to help you.  Keep fighting, reach out and find support!  No one else in the world should have to go through this and it's all because I had endometriosis untreated so long!  DON'T WAIT!