Endometriosis - It's all new to me

by Ashley
(Big Stone Gap, VA)

I'm 24 years old and was just diagnosed with stage 4 Endometriosis. Three weeks ago, I didn't even know Endo existed.

Since Tuesday (09/18/12) I'd felt pain in my lower left side, and thought it might have been a kidney infection. Where I'd had one before, I knew what it felt like.

But this time, when I went to the ER on the following Saturday, all the tests came back with positive results. The urine tests, the blood tests, even the CT scan. Everything came back with positive results.

I went to my primary doctor the Monday after with the same problems. They referred me to a Gynecologist where she found a single knot near my left ovary.

She sent me back to the hospital for a full bladder ultrasound and a transvaginal ultrasound. In the same place my Gyno found the knot, the ultrasound found a three inch mass.

Thinking it was a dermoid cyst they decided to go ahead and do a Laparoscopy surgery to remove the cyst. However, when they started the surgery, they found stage 4 Endometriosis.

My Gyno said that it is the worst case that she'd ever seen in a 24 year old, and that I will have to have a complete hysterectomy by December.

I'm completely new to all of this so I don't really know what to expect.

I've got mixed emotions about the whole thing. I'm 24 years old, and the one thing I've always wanted more than anything else on this planet gets taken from my grasp, kids. I can never have them.

And at first it devastated me. But I know that's not the only way I can ever have kids. I may not be the one giving birth to one, but there are kids out there that don't have a good mommy and I think I figured out what my purpose in life just might be.

Now I'm waiting for December when I am going to have the Hysterectomy done. It's still all new to me. I don't know much about Endometriosis. But I'm still here so I know God's got a plan for me.