Sciatic Endometriosis: My Hysteroscopy Polypectomy Surgery.

Growing up I would always tell my mother that I wanted to have three or four children when I got married but it didn't quite turn out that way. I became pregnant with my first child at 16 years old. It was junior year in high school and I was pregnant for almost my entire junior year. I gave birth the summer before my senior year - I was 17. I had my second child 7 years later - I was 24. I'm sure you all can do the math but I wanted to make sure to include that.

My Father & I in front of his '85 Trans Am Firebird (my dream car)

My parents and & I at my baby shower for my first born. We didn't know the sex until I gave birth .

My husband and I were trying for a while to get pregnant and it was not happening so we gave up. I was getting sick and had a fever so I had no idea I was pregnant. I had taken 2 tests already and they both came out negative. I finally gave in and headed to the ER. During that ER visit, I was told I had Pneumonia, double ear infection, I was 15 weeks pregnant and that they were sure it was a boy but they couldn't be 100% sure because I was only 15 weeks. They determined the sex after I had an ultrasound done once a had a faint line on my pregnancy test. 

This was taken the week before I was induced.

This pregnancy was not an easy one. I was put on bed rest after getting Pre-clampsia. For those that don't know what Pre-clampsia is, I will give you a little definition. Pre-clampsia is a condition in pregnancy characterized by high blood pressure, sometimes with fluid retention and proteinuria,  posing a threat to the health of mother and baby. I could not do much and had to keep my feet elevated all the time. At 32 weeks I was induced because my Pre-eclampsia was turning into Eclampsia. I was worried about his health. I asked if his lungs were developed, will be in the NICU, etc. They told me he was already weighing in at 6 pounds so they were pretty confident. It was a horrible delivery. I was induced and was not progressing. After 2 days, I started to develop a fever. They had ice packs all over me. On my forehead, my back, under my arms, EVERYWHERE! At this point my doctor decided to do a c-section. As we were preparing to go, my legs started shaking. I did not know what was happening. They had to administer a full spinal now and get the baby out of me as soon as possible. I don't remember much but I do remember that when they pulled out my son, he was not breathing. And they rushed my husband out of the room to tend to me. He was in the room with our son and he heard his cries. The next few days are a bit foggy so I don't remember much. 

Me and my daughter! This was taken the day of my induction. 

In 2013, I started having issues with my menstrual cycle. It was too heavy and very painful. Unbearable pain that would keep me in bed in tears - my pain tolerance is very high. I kept going back to my doctor and he kept telling me that I needed to lose weight and tried to pressure me into taking diet pills. I was horrified. I trusted him as my OBGYN doctor and here he was, telling me that it's my weight. I had to tell him that the weight gain started after I started having issues. He didn't want to listen. I started to ween myself off of meat and become a vegetarian. I was successful for about a year and lost 62 pounds. It was so hard to get that weight off but I tried my hardest. I started to eat meat again and everything was going well until I had a cyst rupture. I was in immense pain and went to my OBGYN thinking he was going to do some more testing. This was about the 5th or 6th cyst in the last 2 years. I started gaining weight again and then started getting these pains in my lower back every single time I was menstruating. He just said "Oh that's your sciatic nerve. It has nothing to do with your menstrual cycle. It's all just a coincidence." I couldn't believe it. He then began talking about these darn diet pills - which by the way are called Phentermine. If he had done his research, he would know that I cannot take that due to my other condition. But he did not even though I supplied him with my past medical history.

Now let's fast forward to present day. I left his practice and found a wonderful new doctor who listened to me the first day I went in which was in November She scheduled testing and ultrasound and I found out I had polyps and a fibroid. I had to go in the following week for a biopsy and that came back benign. I was also told I had sciatic endometriosis, I told my old doctor about my mother having endometriosis but he didn't seem to care about that when I discussing my symptoms. Spoke to me about getting surgery and that it was needed to get those polyps and fibroid out. I had my surgery yesterday. I had a hysteroscopy polypectomy done and I must say that I am very sore! The words scared the bananas out of me but I was ready to get these things out. I am to be on bed rest for two days and usually I'm stubborn and want to get back on my feet but it pains me to even bend over. 

Had my first doctor had listened to me years ago, I would not be going through this now. Now that I have the diagnosis of Endometriosis, I now know that, that was the reason for not getting pregnant fast and is the reason why I won't be able to have anymore children in the future. I am so grateful that I have my two beautiful children now. I have been beyond blessed. I sometimes think wanting another makes me selfish. I am so thankful to my new doctor that I am not ever leaving her practice. She is wonderful and very knowledge and listens to her patients. I hope my story helps other women to speak up sooner. Don't wait years to speak up to your doctor. You know your body better than they do!