Sweaty & Glittery & Committed

Well, I hope that sunset picture gave you a sense of calm before I dive in.

Surgery recovery isn’t easy. Below are some honest realities from the perspective of the three week post-op mark from endometriosis excision and a hysterectomy, which I hope continue to get better over the next week before returning to work.

I had a catheter for 3 days and found it mentally taxing in a way I had not anticipated. It wasn’t part of the plan, but the amount of endometriosis the surgeon found when she opened me up, and ovary repair necessary to preserve my hormonal cycles, turned a 4 hour surgery into a 6+ hour procedure. I am so freaking grateful for mobility over the past two weeks and the ability to pee on my own.

I’m peeing every hour to protect my bladder. There was so much endometriosis all over it, my surgeon told me to be cognizant about not over-filling it to allow the tissue and nerves to heal. I’m also icing my elbows. I can’t straighten my arms without pain. My surgeon is pretty sure the length of surgery (over 6 hours) irritated the nerves in my arms. 

In health, the stakes are high. My quality of life was so low that I was willing to take the risk with major surgery. Nothing compared to the pain I anticipated & GUTTED THROUGH over half of each month. I’m still optimistic about a full recovery. I have a comeback list, which includes truly training both sides once I’m cleared for aerial arts. 

A hysterectomy does not cure endometriosis. Endometriosis exists outside the uterus. My uterus is being tested for adenomyosis, a disease that causes pain similar to endometriosis, but only exists inside the tissue of the uterus. Adenomyosis is diagnosed through biopsy after the uterus is removed. Before recommending a hysterectomy, an expert surgeon (not a general gynecologist) will do additional tests and assess your symptoms to confirm their suspicions. Among many factors, my periods were so long and awful that I was ready to be uter-less, even if an adenomyosis biopsy doesn’t come back positive. Again for the people in the back: a hysterectomy does not cure endometriosis. 

As a white woman in her 30s, America’s legacy of white supremacy allowed me the CHOICE of a hysterectomy. Black woman have not had this choice, which is a product of racial bias in healthcare. Eugenics were policy not long ago. There are countless women, like the legendary Fannie Lou Hamer, who woke up from a surgery in 1961 to find that she had be sterilized without consent, which was legal under Mississippi law. The more you know, the more the healthcare system can change. Just this week, Kyla Canzater contacted Johns Hopkins to voice concern that “white women” was listed as risk factor for endometriosis. Whiteness as a risk factor has now been removed from their webpage.

I mentioned earlier in the post that I’m optimistic about a full recovery. Endometriosis is difficult to manage for a multitude of reasons. Because of misogyny and racism still prevalent in healthcare, it takes approximately 7-10 years to diagnosis. Once your body has been under duress for so long, you’re not just treating endometriosis. There is impact on other organ systems like the kidneys, vitamin deficiencies, chronic inflammation, psychological trauma, all on top of removing the endometriosis. Healthcare is woefully under-equipped to treat the complexity of the disease at this time. In addition to my usual “what I’m reading” send-off, I included links to organizations working to change this.

Further reading and organizations to support:

• Fearful Beloved, Khadijah Queen (this collection of poetry is about pain, navigating public & private spaces, and much more)
• ENDO Black
• Dr. Iris Orbuch’s Open Letter to the Endometriosis Community
• Sister Song

Stay sweaty and glittery and committed. And remember, because maybe it wasn’t clear throughout my post, Black Lives Matter. There are many ways to implement change and I firmly believe that access to quality healthcare is necessary in the fight for equal rights.