Reflexology

I decided it was about time I gave alternative therapies a chance.  Since July 2008 I have had two surgeries and had Lupron for six months.  As we are trying to conceive it means the birth control pill and the mirena coil are out.  I use pain killers as and when needed but since my surgery, just over four weeks ago, I have not taken that much (not counting the few days right after surgery when I needed quite a bit of pain control).

I started reflexology Friday of last week and went again yesterday.  The lady that does it is tiny, lovely but tiny!  Seriously I am only 5 foot 4 and I feel so tall next to her.  I feel rude calling her tiny so I will refer to her as just plain and simple T.  I met her at the endo support group meeting at the end of January.  T came in to talk to us about what reflexology was and how it may help with our pain.  Not only our endo pain but the whole body.

The first thirty minutes we just spent running through my medical history.  I am surprised thirty minutes was enough but it was just basics needed I didn't need to go into detail.  Apart from my endo I have been pretty healthy.  I do suffer from eczema and hay fever but only mildly and all my other hospital visits were when I was much younger.  Once the basics were done I got to sit back and relax in the most comfortable sun lounger style chair ever.  Once I was sat comfortably the chair then tipped back so my feet were up in the air much easier for T to do her magic.

There was lovely relaxing music playing in the background and I immediately felt comfortable and relaxed.  T asked me to let her know whenever I felt any pain or tenderness on my feet or anywhere in my body.  The feet part was easy when she pressed on something and it was painful I let her know.  When I had pain in my body though how did I know if it was just pain I would have had anyway or if I needed to let her know.  I went with it and just told her when I felt anything.  Lots of notes where made during the hour she spent working my feet.

Anyone who has endo will likely agree with what I am going to say next and if you don't have endo then listen up!  Fatigue and tiredness play a major part in our lives.  If we say we  are tired we don't just mean I didn't get enough sleep last night.  We mean we are exhausted, beyond tired, our bodies ache with tiredness.  For me the fatigue is worse than the pain.  The pain can be lessened with pain killers and isn't constant (for me anyway other women are not so lucky) the fatigue however never leaves.  It is a running joke that I am constantly tired no matter how much sleep I have.  Well it turns out, as T explained it to me,  that the part of my feet that is connected to sleep is like a switch that is constantly ON!  She worked hard on this both weeks for me.  After the first session I left and was ready to fall asleep then and there at the wheel of my car on my drive home.  Yesterday however I commented that I felt wide awake and she replied "That's because I took it all from you, there was a point when I was so overcome with tiredness I felt like I would fall asleep."

Do you remember me telling you about the awful shoulder pain that was magically gone after surgery? Well guess what it hasn't gone.  It isn't there constantly now but it does still bother me.  It tends to be worse when I am led down in bed, I can't sleep on my back it hurts too much, as soon as get on to my side it eases off.  Apparently we have a nerve that runs from out neck down through the shoulder and then on down toward the pelvic area. T thinks this is what is causing my shoulder pain.  She worked on this both weeks for me but I am not yet seeing an improvement. 

I have a lot going on in all areas connected to the uterus and ovaries.  I guess that is completely expected when I am still recovering internally from surgery and I still have endo in there.  I like the fact that with reflexology they work on the body as a whole.  I had a cold about a week after surgery and it has been lingering just a little bit on my chest.  I cough from time to time.  Right at the end of the session yesterday I coughed and felt like I needed to spit up, of course I couldn't but she told me that she was working on my lungs as she could feel that I needed to get whatever was still lingering out from there.  I also had a slight yellowing in that area of my feet which showed there was still something there.  Hopefully next time I go that will be gone.

I am really happy with it so far and I look forward to the next appointment which is on the 28th.  It is going to be a be a busy day for me as I start back to work and the next endo meeting is also that night.  I scheduled the appointment with T so that when I leave her I can go straight to the meeting.  It is early days and I am hoping to get to see really noticeable changes and results withing the next month or so.  For now it is worth it just for the "me" time and the relaxation I get seems to ease life's daily stress.

2011 Awareness Endo Video

My lovely friend Barb made this amazing endo awareness video.  The fact that I am in it obviously makes it personal which of course this disease is!  Please watch and I hope you enjoy it, it most definitely brought tears to my eyes.  Go ahead and share it with as many people as you can.  Just in case you were wondering the women in the pictures all have endo and offered thier pictures to barv=b for the video.  Any questions then feel free to ask me.                            

It is Match Day

March 12th 2011 Wales v Ireland at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff!

(This is the poster from two years ago just change the date and time and the rest is still the same)

My husband and I have tickets and I cannot wait to go.  We have been to quite a few games in the past but I have never been to a game against Ireland.  While having relatives living in Dublin and going over on many occasions for the game we have yet to actually be at the game.

So today, we get to be there, actually at the stadium and I am so excited.  I love the atmosphere even if it is freezing!!

After the previous games of the six natons competition this one could go either way.  Obviously I want Wales to win and I really hope they can pull it off.

3 weeks post surgery

Three weeks ago today, right now in fact, I was in surgery.  Surgery that would hopefully give me some sort of pain free life.  When I was told how bad my right hand side was and that they hadn't touched it I knew instantly that I was not gong to be pain free.  I still had hope that my pain was gong to be greatly reduced though.  The fact that I had woken up with that awful shoulder pain gone helped keep my spirits up and believe that things could only get better.

After surgery I bled for 5 days.  Not heavily, just annoying and I was only allowed to use towels.  After using tampons for so long it was tough using sanitary towels.  My actual period was due on the 28th of February which is still yet to arrive.  I now have no idea when I might start to bleed.  It might just be I skipped this one due to post surgery bleeding and my next one will come right on time.  Or I could start bleeding at any time.  Who knows!  So for now, just to be on the safe side, I have tampons in my bag for whenever I leave the house.

I had five incisions for the surgery, four of which haven't really bothered me, but one has been extremely painful.  To look at it is so small and looks great as it is healing just fine.  But the pain, not all the time, wow it hurts.  It seems to ease pretty quickly though.  Maybe it is something I am doing that is aggravating it?  I guess I will have to keep an eye on when it starts and make a note of what I have been doing.  Over the counter paracetemol is enough to take the edge off. I really do not want to take anything stronger.  I hate painkillers!

That shoulder pain that I said was gone when I woke up, well it hasn't gone completely.  It is so much better than before but it is still there.  Much more bearable now and not constant.  It is the constant pain that can get you down, to always have some sort of pain is draining.  I have been having some ovary pain as well but again much better than before.  For now I am blaming it all on the fact that my insides are raw and healing.  The extent of surgery will take time to heal and I am going to allow it the time it needs before I blame the endo for causing the pain.

So for now things seem to be right on track (apart from my period).  I will be contacting the hospital at some point this week to find out when my follow up appointment will be.  I will not allow them to operate on me and then explain everything to me when I am lucid rather than high right after surgery.  They did that to me the last time and it took two and a half years to find out everything I wanted to know.

(originally written at 10am)

Today is Yellow Shirt Day

March 1st, Yellow Shirt Day to kick of awareness for the month for endometriosis.

I love the fact that there are so many of my friends on facebook who have profile pictures signifying the importance of this month and using it to raise awareness.  Yes a lot of them are my endo sisters but there are also those supporting us that do not suffer.  To me that says so so much!

For me today is also St. Davids Day.  Today is a good day.

Lets all do as much as we can throughout the month of March to promote awareness for this incurable chronic pain disease that affects 176 million women worldwide.

http://www.endometriosis-uk.org/

http://www.endometriosis.org.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometriosis

http://www.shetrust.org.uk/

http://www.endofound.org/

Above are a few websites with plenty of information about endometriosis. 

I wore my yellow today with pride and will continue through out the month to post facts and statistics both here and on facebook.  I will apologise in advance if I start to bug you (probably more so on facebook than here) but please forgive me we need more awareness and if we don't speak out about it ourselves no one else will do it for us.