I have been wanting to write about why I have been MIA this summer. Not just because I want to share my story but mostly because my story might help other women.
Back in May I ended up in the emergency room. I experienced excruciating pain in my pelvic area. A type of pain I have never experienced in my whole entire life. I learned not through my doctor but on my own that I was experiencing endometriosis and adenomyosis symptoms among other complications.
What is endometriosis (aka endo)? I’m not going to talk about this disease in depth. I know a lot of women are experiencing endo. 1 in 10 to be more precise.
You can find more about endo and other resources at the links below 👇.
I am not a doctor and my purpose of sharing the following is not to give medical advice but rather help women become more active when they don’t get clear answers from their doctors and/or feel supported through this story.
Prior to my emergency, my gynecologist was very breezy about my gradually growing symptoms. Sadly, I have learned that the majority of gynecologists have not been trained further on endo. So many women with endo trust right away their gynecologist and go through a standard surgery that doesn’t involve the technique a specialist in endo performs.
All this time I thought I was seeing an expert but the reality is that I wasn’t.
✨Miracle moment✨.
3 years ago, I volunteered to coach at a high school in Queens to empower young women to achieve their dreams. In that workshop I met another volunteer named Kelly. We exchanged our contact info and I didn’t see her after 3 years later at my Mindful She Circles.
I shared with Kelly what was happening to me and she opened up with her courageous journey with endo. Kelly right away gave me crucial information on how to become an advocate for my own health and make skillful decisions on how to proceed with my medical needs.
She saved me from the agony of having to go to several doctors and even surgeries.
3 years ago I left that workshop at the high school talking to the Universe. I said “I don’t know how much good I did (this was my first public workshop outside the academia world) but something tells me this wasn’t in vain, something great is going to happen at some point.”
I am forever grateful to Kelly. Kelly will be a special guest during "Soulful Conversations with Freedom" where she'll talk about her journey. She went through a lot of trial and error with this disease and at some point the doctors didn’t even believe her about her pain.
There is more to this story that I’m sure it will touch your hearts as it did mine ❤️.
Stay tuned, I’ll be interviewing Kelly next week on Facebook Live.
💖How am I doing now? I have become familiar with the symptoms and I’m happy to share that I have most of my symptoms under control. I have now a new medical team. I’m waiting for my surgery in the fall with a trained doctor that practices excision surgery (and not ablation like most gynecologists perform).
I feel blessed that I have what I called “the love team” which consists of the amazing people in my life that has offered me so much support. Among them is my family and friends, Christina, Kat, Marianna, Kelly, Marcia.
💖What has this experience taught me so far? During painful times when everything seemed so dark and life stopped making sense, I knew I was not alone. I’m relearning to apply “blind faith.” It’s not easy even for a person such as myself (I’m also an academic). I did all the research one could do about this disease and spent hours asking questions to my future surgeon. I did my best 80% and now I leave the 20% to the Universe. I won’t interfere anymore. One must allow the light to come in and help.
I have become more compassionate towards people that are ill. I was receiving iron infusion at a cancer clinic (severe anemia is part of the symptoms). There I have learned about the strength and positive attitude people with cancer have. They have become my people and I have so much admiration for them.
I have grown a lot of courage and perseverance. I experienced kindness through the amazing amount of love my mother specially gives me on a daily basis. She has seen me on my worst...on the floor, with pain, with fear, with sadness. Through this journey I try to use my sense of humor. I pray and then pray some more. I know that my journey can serve other women make more skillful decisions about their health (just like Kelly has been there for me through her journey).
💖What am I up to now? I’m presently working on empowering spiritual projects and focusing on doing my work online. On Wednesday I’ll be offering a 10 minute meditation at 3pm eastern time through the app Tap In Meditation https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tap-in-meditation/id1435625315.
Would you like to reconnect and meditate with me? 🧘 Would you like to support me and yourself in this journey? I would love for you to join me on Wednesday Aug 14. I’ll post more info about this soon.
🌺 Mindful She is in hiatus until January 2020. Watch me how I’m going to transform this painful journey into something wonderful 💪.
There was a time where I was not able to walk. My nerves on my back were affected. So like Martin Lurther King said “when you can’t walk then crawl but keep moving forward.” I have literally crawl both physically and emotionally. I’ll be coming back with more powerful workshops.
If you have made it all the way to the end of my story, thank you 🙏 .
All your prayers, high vibes and healing energy are welcome. Feel free to pm me if you have questions about endo. If you have endo or know someone have endo feel free to share the resource links at the end of this message.
Much light, Freedom
Resources
What is endo? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTB_c-2AUNA (the only thing missing in this video is that they do not mention that the endo cells can spread with time or damage tissues on different organs in the pelvic area and even outside.
What is adenomyosis? (by a well known specialist in NYC) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FI4MJ_V6N4
Women Discuss The Invisible Pain of Endometriosis (in this video you’ll learn how women are misdiagnosed and what’s like): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiYOC8KPgzk
Nancy’s Nook (an educational fb group). This group has a global list of gynecologist surgeons who practices excision surgery. I highly recommend it!: https://www.facebook.com/groups/418136991574617/
The difference between ablation and excision surgery (explained by Dr. Vitali): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cps9cFYzns
Period Repair Manual (I think every woman should have this book in their bookshelves. It covers all types of pelvic issues): https://www.amazon.com/Period-Repair-Manual-Treatment-Hormones/dp/1975926773/ref=sr_1_1?crid=M1BUXI3B88JO&keywords=period+repair+manual&qid=1565718180&s=books&sprefix=period+repair+%2Cstripbooks%2C132&sr=1-1
Tap In Meditation app: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1435625315