The Women Are Plotting
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Then welcome to The Women Are Plotting -- a new podcast that allows a peek into the unfiltered minds of three Gen X writers. Give us a listen. And if you like what you hear, tell your friends.
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The Women Are Plotting
From Misdiagnosis To Hysterectomy: An Endometriosis Journey
Pain that steals whole years shouldn’t be shrugged off as “just a bad period.” We sit down with Martha, a nurse who spent years begging to be believed, and trace the arc from precocious puberty and crippling cramps to an overdue MRI that finally revealed advanced endometriosis. Her story cuts through myths and minimization to show exactly how endo can derail work, intimacy, and mental health—and what it takes to get real answers.
This conversation is for anyone navigating pelvic pain, irregular bleeding, or cyclical GI symptoms that don’t add up—and for the clinicians who want to do better. We unpack why endometriosis staging doesn’t predict suffering, how an MRI can be decisive when red flags stack up, and where to find the right specialists for endometriosis surgery. We also talk about the emotional weight of seeking gynecologic care in spaces geared toward pregnancy, and why validation is as healing as any prescription. If you or someone you love is fighting to be heard, you’ll leave with language, next steps, and the confidence to ask for what you need.
If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs validation, and leave a review to help more people find these stories. Your voice helps others get the care they deserve.
Yale article referenced in this episode: https://medicine.yale.edu/news/yale-medicine-magazine/article/endometriosis/
Martha's doctors/surgeons:
Dr. Thomas Curran (https://www.getcare.muschealth.org/providers/thomas-curran-1205147022)
Dr. Cristian M. Thomae (https://www.getcare.muschealth.org/providers/cristian-thomae-1306934658)
Email us at info@thewomenareplotting.com, and find us on all the socials. Be safe and be excellent to each other.
[00:00:00] Martha: But during this whole time, like the pain just kept getting worse and worse. The bleeding kept getting worse and worse. And then, like I mentioned in the beginning, I always felt like someone was stabbing me in the butt hole, especially on my period. And I would get very constipated. It was miserable.
[00:00:15] Martha: And then the rest of the time of my life, I would have diarrhea all the time. So it was like this horrible cycle that I was stuck in. And then I finally started pooping straight blood. And that's when the doctors were like, oh, we could send you for an MRI because you can see endometriosis on MRIs.
[00:00:32] Etienne: What?
[00:00:32] Martha: And I was like,
[00:00:33] Etienne: Why didn't we do this?
[00:00:34] Martha: Why didn't we do this from the beginning?
[00:00:37] Etienne: Welcome listeners. This is The Women Are Plotting. I'm Etienne Rose Olivier and I'm here with my friends and co-hosts, Heidi Willis and Jane Gari.
[00:00:52] Etienne: On today's episode, we're gonna be talking about endometriosis and we have a friend with us whose name is Martha, and we're gonna be asking her all about her experiences with endometriosis and a tumor, a benign tumor that she had.
[00:01:06] Etienne: But my interesting fact for today in relation to our show is that 10% of women, in reproductive age, so that's 15 to 49 years old, have endometriosis. And that's worldwide. That's from the World Health Organization, that statistic. But 12% of women, according to the National Institute of Health, end up having to have a hysterectomy related to their end endometriosis. Sorry, that is a hard word. Sorry. It's very long too. You could
[00:01:34] Martha: just call it endo
[00:01:35] Etienne: Endo. So 10% of women, all women of childbearing age have endometriosis. That's huge. I had no idea it was that big of a number. That's hysterectomies. That doesn't include oophorectomies or anything. If they had to have one or both of their ovaries removed. I don't have that statistic. But, Heidi, do you have a fun or interesting or strange fact for us today?
[00:01:58] Heidi: Well, the article you sent us was full of 'em. Mainly I was astonished to find out, I knew that the cells can grow anywhere , I had some removed way back when as well, along with the fibroid and a uterine septum.
[00:02:13] Heidi: But, they said that the abnormal cells have been found in lungs and even the brain. So can you imagine endo, which is basically a uterine lining that escapes the uterus through the fallopian tubes, migrates to your brain and is bleeding in your brain. Like, how does that I, that
[00:02:32] Etienne: Does that mean you could have a hemorrhagic stroke from endometrial tissue in your brain?
[00:02:36] Martha: I think I've read about that.
[00:02:37] Etienne: Yeah. Oh my God.
[00:02:38] Martha: Or having like personality changes and
[00:02:42] Heidi: That's so crazy. That blew my mind when I read that, that it can happen.
[00:02:50] Martha: Sometimes I wonder if I have it in my brain, honestly.
[00:02:52] Etienne: No.
[00:02:54] Martha: Who knows?
[00:02:56] Etienne: Ah, and Jane, what is your fact for today?
[00:02:58] Jane: Well, my fact is more of a public service announcement, but it's that abortions do not cause endometriosis.
[00:03:06] Etienne: Somebody thinks that
[00:03:07] Jane: I just want, yeah. yes.
[00:03:09] Etienne: what? Oh.
[00:03:10] Jane: It's something I've heard a bunch throughout my life, and so I just wanted to debunk
[00:03:15] Etienne: Oh, wow.
[00:03:16] Jane: It's something I've heard from women who educated women. They're like, I've heard that, anything that starts with that phrase is usually like, uhoh, what are we, I've heard that. Or did you know that? Um, but I'm just here to say definitively that abortions do not cause endometriosis. So
[00:03:34] Etienne: It sounds like another old wives tale to try to get people from having abortions. Yeah. Yes.
[00:03:39] Jane: Yeah. To scare people and saying like, you know, if you do this, you're gonna have more of a chance of not being able to have other children, or you're going to have endometriosis if you do this. So those types of things. So that, let that not be a reason.
[00:03:51] Heidi: Well, it's just like that, article that was sent, they used to think that being skinny caused endometriosis, and it's, the reverse endometriosis causes the metabolism to be off, and so it causes you to not be able to maintain weight. Just like the depression and anxiety, like endometriosis causes that. It's not like, yeah. Crazy. So.
[00:04:15] Etienne: I wouldn't be surprised if just having endometriosis can cause you to just go insane. Yeah. From the pain and the,
[00:04:22] Martha: Yes, I would act like a child. I would act like a different person who I definitely was not, crying hysterically, throwing things, getting upset about ridiculous things. And I was embarrassed while I was doing it, but it was like I couldn't help it. So, yeah.
[00:04:37] Etienne: Oh man.
[00:04:38] Martha: I think it was about hormones and who knows the pain.
[00:04:41] Etienne: Well, that is actually Martha talking 'cause we didn't actually introduce Martha. Hi. I'm very sorry. Martha's a coworker of mine. We're both nurses. She's a little higher up than just a regular nurse, but we, but she's still a coworker.
[00:04:55] Martha: Yes, I'm, you are still my coworker
[00:04:58] Etienne: But, yes. Martha told me her story about, uh, this was like a while ago, a couple years ago maybe, or a year ago. And I was just floored. And when we decide, when we talked about starting this podcast, I always thought about asking her if she would like to come on and tell her story, so, yeah.
[00:05:14] Martha: I love that. Yeah, I've been wanting to tell my story too on some kind of platform where hopefully it can help some other people, I'm honored.
[00:05:21] Etienne: What was your first symptom that you're aware of?
[00:05:23] Martha: First I do wanna say that I do work in the healthcare field, but everything I'm talking about is just from my own experience and things that I've looked up and some of the advice I got from doctors who I feel like actually knew what they were talking about.
[00:05:37] Martha: So it's always important to like, remember that everybody's healthcare journey is different and you know, how you were raised or your culture, your own body is gonna dictate how you experience it. So just because I didn't take a certain drug, 'cause I was scared of it or I had a bad reaction to a certain treatment, doesn't mean that you will.
[00:06:00] Martha: So I don't want anyone to not try something just because it didn't work for me or I was afraid to try it. So I just wanted to say that upfront, you know, I'm just talking about what I experienced. And hopefully it does make somebody feel less crazy, less alone. 'Cause endometriosis is one of those invisible illnesses that people tend to make you feel crazy Yeah.
[00:06:22] Heidi: There's a lot of doctors out there that still, that article, which was really recent, they said, still to this day it's 10 years for women to get the proper diagnosis.
[00:06:33] Martha: Yeah. It took me seven years and seven doctors, I think.
[00:06:39] Etienne: Oh my God.
[00:06:39] Martha: Yeah. I think, which I did see a statistic once that typically it takes at least five to seven doctors to be diagnosed with endometriosis.
[00:06:48] Etienne: Yes.
[00:06:48] Martha: Which is just
[00:06:49] Jane: that is bonkers.
[00:06:51] Martha: not okay.
[00:06:52] Etienne: And how do you not go crazy? Yeah. How do you not like go mentally crazy thinking, I, there's something wrong with me and nobody can tell me what it is
[00:06:58] Martha: Exactly. Yeah. So.
[00:07:00] Jane: It sounded like, Etty, what you were sharing, that, that there's so many, like 10% of women in childbearing age are experiencing this.
[00:07:07] Jane: For the audiences, the article, it was a Yale medicine article and we'll link that in the show notes so they can look at that as a reference. But, when we say the article, that's what we're talking about. We all read it to get a baseline so that we could have this conversation with Martha and we were just like, you know, minds blown with how common it is and tissues impacting all parts of your body, including your brain. So, but back to Martha's story.
[00:07:29] Martha: Okay. I'll start my story now. So I am gonna give some background on my childhood because I think that something people don't think about a lot when they're talking about
[00:07:42] Martha: endometriosis is kind of how it affects you socially and emotionally and all of those things. 'Cause some of those aspects of it are worse than the pain, I think. 'Cause it really just has such a impact on your life. And for so long, I felt like that's what defined me and I knew I had it even though doctors never told me I did. So when I was a kid, I was very tiny, like the tiniest little kid. And everybody would always talk about, oh Martha's so cute and tiny. And so that's kind of how I defined myself.
[00:08:17] Martha: And then unfortunately, when I was eight, I got boobs. I don't know why.
[00:08:23] Etienne: Eight
[00:08:23] Martha: Eight
[00:08:24] Etienne: oh my God
[00:08:24] Martha: I was a gymnast. I was very fit, I was small. I didn't fit that like precocious puberty mold. I dunno why it happened to me.
[00:08:35] Martha: And then, I was nine and I had an upset stomach, so I was sitting on the toilet reading a babysitter's club book and I started bleeding into the toilet.
[00:08:45] Martha: So I thought I was dying because of course I, I think nowadays hopefully people do a little bit better job educating their daughters younger. I mean, probably not everybody. And I love my mom. She's like my hero. She's a wonderful person. But she just never told me about periods. So I really thought I was dying on the 4th of July.
[00:09:06] Etienne: Oh, it was the 4th of July.
[00:09:07] Martha: Yeah, it was not a great day. It's a core memory obviously. So I went and told my mom I was dying and she was like, oh no, I think you started your period, but why you're nine. And I was like, I dunno, I dunno what that means.
[00:09:39] Martha: So she took me to the grocery store and we bought some gross pads and I was embarrassed and for the rest of, until I was 40 something I had horrible, debilitating cramps at least once a month. So my childhood was kind of sprinkled with me feeling very different at school. I would have periods of time where I couldn't pay attention, I could just curl up in a little ball in the corner and, cry and feel like I was gonna throw up.
[00:09:54] Martha: And it was even before people took Advil or Tylenol, really, so no one gave me anything like that I was just in pain all the time. And I also went from being this really tiny, cute person, which I thought that was all I was good for. Like that's my value as a human is being tiny and cute, to having boobs and hips and all of a sudden being the same height as everybody.
[00:10:17] Martha: And so I just felt like this worthless, ugly blob for a long time. I also randomly looked like a man. I don't know what happened. I don't know what hormones were in my body, but I looked very manly when I was like 11, 12. My sister even found a picture of me like a couple years ago and was like, who's that dude?
[00:10:40] Martha: And I was like, that's me when I was 12. So I don't know what happened there, but the whole puberty experience and all of that was just horrendous for me. So, anyone out there who had a similar experience or has a daughter going through that, I just want them to know there is another side and eventually it gets better.
[00:11:01] Martha: But that was definitely, something that has stuck with me my whole life and I think really impacted how I grew and my confidence and my self-esteem and it was rough. And then to add the pain component on top of that was just, you know, and then having no doctors listen to me.
[00:11:21] Martha: I mean, especially back then in the early mid nineties, I think that it was even worse. So it was like the wild west, you know, it was just cramps. It's just whatever, you know, like just push through, oh, you have swimming in gym class, it's fine. Get in the pool. Just get in the pool. Like, I'm bleeding through four tampons. I don't wanna get in the pool. Like, you know, So I just, I feel bad for anyone else going through that right now. And, it definitely shaped me a lot. And I wonder what my life would've been like if I didn't have all those things happening. 'Cause I do feel like I had some arrested development and really slow to kind of thrive as an adult, but I think that's part of it is just going through all of that.
[00:12:03] Martha: So, but that's my beginning story. I had a period at nine, so by the time I had a hysterectomy, I had had my period for 30 something years, which is bananas, you know? but anyways, okay, what's next? What do I talk about next? That's my childhood.
[00:12:20] Etienne: So yeah, there must be some symptoms that made you think that this is more than just a period. Yes. Excessive bleeding for sure. With excessive pain. Like there, this has to be something.
[00:12:29] Martha: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:12:30] Etienne: More
[00:12:30] Martha: So when I was like 16, the cramps were worse than ever. And my mom did finally take me to my pediatrician.
[00:12:39] Etienne: Oh God.
[00:12:40] Martha: And because that was all we had. I don't know, I guess she didn't think about taking me to a gynecologist yet or whatever. So they did start me on birth control pills, which my mom was like, hide them from your dad. He can't see them.
[00:12:57] Jane: Wait, I'm sorry. How old were you when you started?
[00:12:59] Martha: 15 or 16, I don't remember. Yeah, like 15 or 16. They never helped me. They never took the cramps away. They maybe helped with the bleeding a little bit. I tried multiple different kinds over the years. But they just never really helped. If anything, I think they really made my anxiety and depression and some of those symptoms amp up a little bit.
[00:13:20] Martha: So it was really frustrating. But I still took them 'cause that's what the doctor said to try. So I took them for years. And then never had to worry about getting pregnant. But, they never helped with the problem. So I kind of just dealt with all of it. I honestly don't even remember those years of my life very well. Or how it impacted me. I think I just erased it. But when I got into my twenties. The cramps and bleeding and everything started getting a whole, whole lot worse. And so I would have to call out of work, which always made me feel so guilty that I started just pushing through it all. And so I was definitely not working up to my full potential.
[00:14:03] Etienne: Mm-hmm.
[00:14:04] Martha: And it was frustrating for me because I felt like I was letting people down. I felt like I was not doing a good job. And I just kind of was wandering through my twenties. Like I tried to major in interior design and then that didn't work. So I tried to major in speech pathology and, I was just depressed and anxious and in pain all the time.
[00:14:31] Martha: And, it was embarrassing 'cause I would bleed into chairs, bleed through my pants in public, things like that. So, I didn't wanna be around people. I kind of shut myself off. And then I unfortunately got into an abusive relationship that I was in for seven years, which I never had the self-esteem to get out of. And I think a lot of that was impacted by my endometriosis and the pain and just already feeling like everybody thought I was whiny and crazy and lazy and that guy did not help with any of that.
[00:15:08] Etienne: Oh, no.
[00:15:08] Martha: I was on birth control pills probably from the time I was 15 or 16 until I finally broke up with that guy. And then I was like, I'm never taking these again. I'm done. That was probably a mistake because then everything came on full force. So that's when I really started noticing something had to be wrong. So I started having so much pain. I felt like someone was shoving an icicle up my butt hole every time I was on my period. I would cry. When I would go to work, I would have to curl up under a desk and I worried so much about everybody judging me or thinking I was just being a hypochondriac, one of those people that's always like, oh, I have fibromyalgia, I have pots, I have whatever. Which I hate that all of these different illnesses have this bad rap where people believe that it's just like not real. And I think people feel like that about endometriosis.
[00:16:08] Heidi: crap.
[00:16:09] Martha: It is. Yeah, it's frustrating. And I just felt like that kind of person. So I would just push myself, never give myself a break. And I ended up being just exhausted. And over the years just kind of became more tired, lost weight was very unhealthy. But I just kept going.
[00:16:29] Martha: And what ended up being like, the big thing that got me to my whole hysterectomy, all the things, was when I moved to Charleston. I didn't grow up here, but I moved here in 2019 and I went to the doctor just to like establish care and they drew my labs and they called me and said, you probably have cancer. You need to go to the emergency room.
[00:16:53] Etienne: What did they call you and say that too, by the way. Oh my lord.
[00:16:58] Martha: And I was like, oh my God.
[00:17:00] Etienne: Wait. You have to say that we're nurses. I think that it's come up already, but yeah.
[00:17:03] Martha: Yeah.
[00:17:04] Etienne: That's especially wrong.
[00:17:05] Martha: That's especially wrong. Yeah. And I did, I looked at my labs and I was like, oh my God, I do have leukemia. My iron was non-existent. My hemoglobin, it was like seven, which is very low.
[00:17:23] Etienne: Normal person. Low. What's normal? Like
[00:17:24] Martha: 13, I think
[00:17:25] Etienne: normal. I think it's 10.
[00:17:26] Martha: Yeah.
[00:17:27] Etienne: For a woman.
[00:17:28] Jane: How were you functioning mentally? I once had that low, but that was only from post-surgical crazy bleed. That was like post C-section bleeding, and I was a nutcase. I couldn't
[00:17:38] Martha: I was a nutcase and I was not functioning very well. Yeah. But I just kept on going. I mean, during this time, for example, my mom, my dad passed away in my early twenties, and my mom reconnected with her high school boyfriend and I was so angry, which is so ridiculous because she was so happy and she wasn't alone.
[00:18:01] Martha: And he was so nice. But I was like irrationally angry and like would call her just screaming at her and stuff, and it was not me. So I think it was impacting me and in hindsight I know that's what it was, but in those moments where I was irrationally crazy about stuff and yelling and screaming, it just reinforced to me that there was something wrong with me, with my mind, with me as a person. But really it was probably that I had no oxygen going to my brain. So I do in hindsight, feel a lot better. And I want people to know that if you do feel like that and have crazy mood swings and are getting irrationally upset with people, it's definitely worth getting some labs drawn, getting a second opinion. Go to a different doctor. 'Cause you really don't know what you're missing. What someone's missing or what someone can find. But anyways, I didn't have cancer. I went to a hematologist and he was a dick. And
[00:19:07] Etienne: Why, because you didn't have cancer, is he?
[00:19:09] Martha: No.
[00:19:10] Etienne: Okay.
[00:19:10] Martha: No. He found out that I was a nurse and went on a tirade about some other things.
[00:19:16] Etienne: Oh, okay.
[00:19:16] Martha: And didn't talk about me, my labs, my issues, any of it at all. Okay. Just dismissed me. Yeah.
[00:19:23] Etienne: Oh wow.
[00:19:23] Martha: Told me I didn't have cancer, but that was about it. Told me to take iron pills, whatever. And so I ended up going to a gynecologist, a new gynecologist,
[00:19:34] Martha: oh, side note before I moved here. And I had been in all of that pain for so long. I also started bleeding like a murder scene anytime I had sex.
[00:19:46] Etienne: Oh God.
[00:19:47] Martha: I mean, it was horrendous. There was just blood everywhere.
[00:19:51] Etienne: Oh my God.
[00:19:52] Martha: So like if the lights were out, turn the lights on. I wouldn't feel it. I didn't know.
[00:19:56] Etienne: Oh.
[00:19:56] Martha: And there would just be blood everywhere.
[00:19:58] Etienne: Oh my god.
[00:19:59] Jane: Wait, even when you didn't have your period, this would happened regardless.
[00:20:02] Etienne: awful.
[00:20:03] Martha: It was, and the first few times it was so embarrassing. It was with my husband now, like he's my husband now, but back then he wasn't. And I was like, oh my gosh, this, he's gonna break up with me. This is so gross. This is so embarrassing. But thankfully, he was like, I, I don't know. Does it hurt? I'm so sorry. I'm
[00:20:24] Heidi: I didn't know I was that big.
[00:20:26] Etienne: I say
[00:20:28] Martha: exactly
[00:20:29] Heidi: her apart.
[00:20:31] Martha: okay, well that's what the gynecologist said. Maybe you can't accommodate his penis.
[00:20:37] Heidi: Oh
[00:20:38] Etienne: come on.
[00:20:38] Martha: I was like, no, that's not it. It's not scary big. It shouldn't have caused me to bleed. But anyways, I don't know how I forgot this whole part of it. I'm not used to just talking about myself.
[00:20:52] Martha: But, I worked at a doctor's office at that time that was right above a gynecologist. So I went to her and said, I'm bleeding every time I have sex, like it's a murder. So she did an exam and everything in the office and, she tried to do this colposcopy thing while I was awake, and that should not be legal.
[00:21:15] Etienne: Mm-hmm.
[00:21:16] Martha: That was the most painful thing. They tried to dilate my cervix right there in the doctor's office
[00:21:23] Etienne: without any pain
[00:21:24] Martha: without any pain medicine, without any numbing. Oh, like lidocaine, nothing. I was, I know, and I was screaming. She couldn't do it. I know
[00:21:37] Jane: Do you know around what year that
[00:21:39] Martha: Two, it was, I mean, it was in like 2015. No. Oh. It was probably 2015 very recently, within the last 10 years. Yeah. Yeah. They just do not give a crap about. I mean, if that was a man, they would've been under anesthesia general. Yeah, general anesthesia. Yeah. Like general anesthesia, like all of it.
[00:22:00] Jane: Was. It a female gynecologist performing this? Wow. Why would she? Okay.
[00:22:05] Etienne: done. Probably.
[00:22:06] Martha: Oh, I'm sure she hasn't. She said, take take 600 milligrams of ibuprofen before you come in. It'll be fine. It was not fine.
[00:22:13] Etienne: Wow.
[00:22:14] Martha: Yeah. So I wasn't able to complete that procedure in the office.
[00:22:20] Martha: So I ended up going in and she did the colposcopy thing and a laparoscopy for endometriosis and they found endometriosis. And one of my ovaries was fused to my bowel, which kind of explained the stabby butthole pain that I had all the time. And then I had endometriosis on my cervix. So that was what was bleeding.
[00:22:42] Etienne: Oh, from the sex. Okay.
[00:22:43] Martha: And my cervix was fryable, so
[00:22:46] Etienne: Oh, that means, yeah. The tissue's very,
[00:22:47] Martha: very
[00:22:47] Etienne: Very fragile.
[00:22:48] Martha: Fragile, yeah. Yeah. So it would just like destroy my cervix. So then they cauterized it again
[00:22:55] Etienne: Without any pain medicine.
[00:22:56] Martha: Later. Later, not during the procedure, but in the office later with no anesthesia. They burned my cervix
[00:23:02] Etienne: Dude. The hell. Wow.
[00:23:07] Martha: And it hurt. Yeah. And you could hear it sizzling.
[00:23:09] Etienne: And probably smell it too.
[00:23:10] Martha: And I could smell it. It was horrible. And then it smelled like burning,
[00:23:14] Etienne: burning flesh
[00:23:15] Martha: for a while. Yeah.
[00:23:16] Etienne: For a while. Like after the fact.
[00:23:17] Martha: Mm-hmm.
[00:23:18] Etienne: Oh my lord.
[00:23:18] Martha: Yeah. So,
[00:23:20] Etienne: oh.
[00:23:20] Martha: So I had those things done, so I was aware that I had an endometriosis and all of that before I moved. But once I moved is when I had the labs and all of that. So when I went to the gynecologist here, they were like, oh, it's probably just heavy periods, blah, blah, blah. Take some iron. And all iron does is make you super constipated. It's miserable. I have a sensitive stomach, so it like, yeah.
[00:23:48] Etienne: And you have to take an empty stomach. I heard. I didn't even know that. Right. Or with orange juice or something
[00:23:51] Martha: You're supposed to take it with orange juice. Which makes it worse if you're stomach hurts.
[00:23:57] Etienne: I get, yeah. I get stomach pain if it's not fresh squeezed orange juice. It's like commercial, like
[00:24:01] Martha: with the acid
[00:24:01] Etienne: yeah. I literally feel like I'm gonna die.
[00:24:04] Martha: Yeah. Yeah. So I felt like I was gonna die. And also was having all these GI problems, which later I found out why, but at the time, didn't know why. So I ended up getting some iron infusion.
[00:24:16] Martha: But my lab, so my white count was low, my iron was low, my hemoglobin was low. It looked like I had cancer, but really I was just bleeding internally every month so much that it was just causing all my lab values to drop and my body couldn't keep up with it.
[00:24:32] Jane: Were you doing gymnastics? I'm sorry? In your, when you, how long did you gym gymnastics? I'm just thinking like if your iron was low, how could you.
[00:24:39] Martha: I wasn't doing it anymore at that point.
[00:24:41] Jane: Okay. Okay.
[00:24:42] Martha: I was barely, barely existing. I am not, I am like a night owl. I'm, I don't sleep, I sleep like four hours baseline. But during this time, I went to the new hire orientation thing at the hospital and slept through the entire thing. Like I fell asleep. The person next to me at the end was like, are you okay? And I was like, oh my God. Like, I've never slept in a class
[00:25:05] Etienne: that's like a full day
[00:25:06] Martha: never slept
[00:25:06] Etienne: of orientation
[00:25:07] Martha: Yes, yes. I was humiliated. I've never done that before.
[00:25:12] Heidi: Wow.
[00:25:12] Martha: So I knew something was definitely wrong. So that's where my gynecology journey started here.
[00:25:19] Etienne: Yeah.
[00:25:20] Martha: So I went to the one and she just said to take birth control. There's nothing else we can do. Even if it's endometriosis, the birth controls will, it'll help. Also on top of all of this, I have a history of having OCD and really bad depression and really bad anxiety. And, I had been through a lot of therapy to get past the OCD, but birth control and hormones really have an impact for me on that. And again, I don't want anybody to be afraid of birth control or anything 'cause everyone's different, and not everybody's like that. But for me, I was terrified of going back on birth control because when I finally did stop taking it, a lot of my anxiety got better. My OCD really improved a lot. And I would tell the doctors, I understand that hormonal birth control helps with endometriosis, but it also has such a bad impact on my mental health. And they would just be like, well, sorry, it's all I got. So you could either do that or just deal with it. And then on top of all of that, I still wasn't a hundred percent sure I didn't want kids.
[00:26:29] Martha: Thankfully I'm not the kind of person that was like, I have to have a kid. I really want a kid. It was just like a, you know, maybe, maybe not. And so it was just hard too, because I felt like I would never be able to have a child because of all the symptoms I was having. And of course so many OBGYNs are hyper-focused on pregnancy, and that's what they wanna do is deliver babies. They don't care about the other stuff. They don't even wanna talk about it. And I left the first gynecology office crying and she was just staring at me while I cried.
[00:27:01] Etienne: Oh my Lord.
[00:27:02] Martha: It was so awkward. I wish I remembered her name 'cause I would tell everyone to never go to her, but I just blocked it. So
[00:27:11] Jane: know about how old she was? I'm just wondering
[00:27:13] Martha: She was definitely in her, probably like late twenties. Very new physician. Yeah. So she just did not know what to do with me how to answer any of my questions. So really just, she just like did a pap smear and sent me on my way.
[00:27:30] Etienne: Wow.
[00:27:31] Martha: So I just lived with it again for a little while until the pain started getting so, so bad. So I went to another gynecologist who really completely gave me a pregnancy test for some reason.
[00:27:48] Etienne: What?
[00:27:48] Martha: Even though I was bleeding all the time.
[00:27:51] Etienne: What the hell?
[00:27:52] Martha: And then, that was it. She didn't try to give me any medication. She didn't try to do anything. I don't even know what the point of that was. And I drove really far to get to her 'cause I heard she was great. She was not.
[00:28:04] Etienne: She thought your symptoms were, you were pregnant, didn't know it. But you've had these symptoms for a long time.
[00:28:08] Martha: Yes. And I had
[00:28:10] Etienne: you were pregnant for like, you're like an elephant. You pregnant?
[00:28:12] Martha: I was pregnant for seven years. So I once again lived with the pain and it just kept getting worse and worse and worse.
[00:28:26] Martha: And then I met somebody at my job who had to have a hysterectomy, for fibroids, so she had a different problem. And I told her all the things I had been going through and she told me to go to her gynecologist.
[00:28:39] Martha: I think I went to at least one other one here that was trash whatever. So I went to the one that she went to and she actually listened to me. She did not make me feel crazy. She really was validating. Let me pull your old medical records. Let me look at what your report from your laparoscopy said, let's do an ultrasound. Let's look at your ovaries. Like, let's see what could be going on. Which was great, but you can't see endometriosis on an ultrasound, which she did let me know. If it's endometriosis that's doing all this, we're not gonna see it. So I did the ultrasound and I hate sitting in there with all of these pregnant people again, even though I don't care that much about having a kid.
[00:29:27] Martha: It's just like knowing that it's something that was taken away from you. It wasn't your choice not to, I wish there was like a separate ultrasound where you don't go sit with a bunch of happy pregnant people when you're there
[00:29:40] Etienne: yeah
[00:29:40] Martha: 'cause you have something wrong with you. Because imagine if you had cervical cancer and that's where you go to get an ultrasound. Why isn't there gynecology and obste, what is the word?
[00:29:52] Etienne: Obstetrician
[00:29:52] Heidi: That's my, that my first thought was why don't they separate the two?
[00:29:57] Martha: They need it.
[00:29:58] Heidi: Obviously there's some obstetricians who only wanna focus on obstetrician stuff, baby stuff. And there should be like a whole like
[00:30:08] Martha: separate women's health
[00:30:09] Heidi: from it. Yeah. Let's, Let's, just,
[00:30:10] Martha: Get it away. Let's break these two apart now, because not every woman is here on this planet to have a baby. They, yeah. It
[00:30:18] Heidi: I feel for you. 'cause I went through for infertility and I had a septum removed, I had fibroid removed and endo removed and yeah, it was a,
[00:30:27] Martha: What's the septum? I've just never
[00:30:29] Heidi: Oh, uterine septum. So, my uterus didn't fully formed when I was in my mom's belly and they thought I had two uterus, which is a mullerian anomaly 'cause it was very thick.
[00:30:42] Heidi: I had to go see a specialized surgeon in Florida, he's a saint. Like he helped so many people like me that had this kind of thing. And he went in just for the septum, but then found the fibroid and the endo and took that out as well at the same time. And so, yeah. That, that helped for a while with the pain.
[00:31:02] Heidi: 'Cause I feel for you with the pain 'cause I used to describe it like there's a little gremlin trying to claw his way out of my stomach.
[00:31:09] Martha: That's a great description.
[00:31:11] Heidi: How it felt like something was clawing their way out of me. Like, yeah. It's
[00:31:16] Martha: I used to tell guys like imagine somebody grabs both of your balls in their hands and squeezes and twists them as hard as they can. And that's what I'm walking around feeling like that, like right now.
[00:31:31] Heidi: But we're crazy.
[00:31:33] Martha: But we're crazy. I know. I was like, I just wish I could transfer my pain to some of these people for just like five minutes.
[00:31:40] Etienne: Mm.
[00:31:41] Martha: You know? And I'm sure you've felt like that before too. 'Cause that sounds awful. I'm glad you found that surgeon.
[00:31:46] Heidi: Yeah, and it helped for a long time. I mean, towards the end before I went into menopause. Yeah, it was getting heavy and painful again. I was like, oh, it's probably back, but yay. Now i've gone through the transition.
[00:31:59] Martha: You're done. The transition.
[00:32:02] Etienne: No more period.
[00:32:03] Jane: Yeah, and then there should be like another definitely later like gynecology thing too. Like obstetrics has its own ability, like those are for the younger folks. And then there's the gynecology for everything. So then you, so after you
[00:32:15] Etienne: yeah, yeah.
[00:32:17] Jane: exactly like
[00:32:18] Heidi: Mm-hmm.
[00:32:18] Jane: Age gate, it maybe. But, so you had the ultrasound and they told you it was not gonna find
[00:32:23] Martha: And it didn't, yeah, it didn't find anything but some like normal ovarian cysts. But this doctor was still very encouraging and she listened to me, she validated me.
[00:32:34] Martha: She talked about a drug called Orilissa, which is, what's the one that stops your period altogether that we give some, you know?
[00:32:42] Etienne: Oh, depo
[00:32:42] Martha: de, uh, depo.
[00:32:44] Etienne: No, not Depo.
[00:32:44] Martha: The other thing that basically puts you in menopause
[00:32:47] Etienne: oh, shoot
[00:32:47] Martha: The bad one. Mm-hmm. I cannot remember name.
[00:32:49] Etienne: They give it during day shift and
[00:32:51] Martha: probably
[00:32:52] Etienne: I'm not there in the daytime anymore.
[00:32:55] Martha: It's, I don't dunno, I can't think of the name of this drug, but, so Orilissa is basically a lighter version of this drug that basically puts you into menopause. So,
[00:33:05] Etienne: okay.
[00:33:05] Martha: Orilissa is a drug that just kind of induces menopause so that you in theory wouldn't have the pain, wouldn't have the bleeding. It keeps new adhesions from forming up endometriosis in your body. But I was again terrified of that because I didn't wanna mess with my hormones because I was in such a sweet spot with everything except for the pain and bleeding and all of that. So, I paid a hundred dollars for it, picked it up. It's still in a closet at my house.
[00:33:35] Etienne: Oh no.
[00:33:35] Martha: I never took it. I was too scared.
[00:33:38] Etienne: Is it a pill or?
[00:33:38] Martha: It's a pill.
[00:33:39] Etienne: Okay.
[00:33:39] Martha: Yeah. And, I've heard that it helps people. I think it's worked really well for a lot of people, but it just was something that just really, after all I'd been through with birth control pills for so many years and how I realized they made me feel, I just really didn't wanna go there. So just never tried it. I think I did frustrate this doctor a little bit because to be honest, I think endometriosis is a very frustrating illness because it's very hormone driven. So if you don't wanna take birth control, if you don't wanna take something like Orilissa, there kind of isn't much they can do right now. I hope one day that changes, but unfortunately, that's kind of it. Yeah. sur.
[00:34:21] Heidi: Surgery, is. Yeah. It's either surgery or these drugs, which actually shut off the estrogen completely. And that's what, that's why
[00:34:29] Etienne: That's probably the Orilissa
[00:34:30] Heidi: yeah. yeah. That's why they consider it like a artificial menopause Yeah. Yeah. 'Cause it shuts off your estrogen completely. But as we know. As we no, exactly. With, with being on hormone replacement, like shutting off your estrogen, you were, I think you were right. Not going on that pill because I think, I don't know, like I would've been scared too. I would've been like, mm, I don't wanna shut off my
[00:34:54] Martha: And a lot of people are, when you look it up online, there's a lot of people that talk about how it made them feel horrible. It made them crazy. It made them gain weight, it made them sluggish, you know? Takes away your sex drive. All of these things that nobody wants, or most people don't. I don't know, maybe somebody likes that, but most people don't.
[00:35:15] Martha: So I never tried that. I did end up trying progesterone only, but it turns me into a bitch. Like, I went into the store Lush, and the girl was like, Hey, can I help you? And I was like, no, I already know all the things in the store. I shop here all the time. And then I was like, oh my God, why did I say that to you?
[00:35:35] Martha: I'm so sorry. I know. It was horrible. So I stopped taking that, and it did actually, that did help a little bit with the pain.
[00:35:43] Martha: But during this whole time, like the pain just kept getting worse and worse. The bleeding kept getting worse and worse. And then, like I mentioned in the beginning, I always felt like someone was stabbing me in the butt hole, especially on my period. And I would get very constipated. It was miserable.
[00:35:59] Martha: And then the rest of the time of my life, I would have diarrhea all the time. So it was like this horrible cycle that I was stuck in. And then I finally started pooping straight blood.
[00:36:09] Martha: And that's when the doctors were like, oh, we could send you for an MRI because you can see endometriosis on MRIs.
[00:36:16] Etienne: What?
[00:36:16] Martha: And I was like,
[00:36:17] Etienne: why didn't we do this?
[00:36:18] Martha: Why didn't we do this from the beginning? Because I can tell you right now, I have endometriosis. Okay. There's this thing in your body called
[00:36:25] Martha: the Pouch of Douglas that I Googled. I learned all this on Google, not from a doctor. And I knew that's where my endometriosis was.
[00:36:31] Martha: I could feel it, I knew it was there. It's kind of a commonplace to get it. It's this like space between your rectum and your colon and your uterus and pelvic floor. It's just this weird little spot and endometriosis can go into that area really easily 'cause the proximity of everything.
[00:36:48] Martha: So I felt quite certain that that's where I had it with the pain and the bleeding when I pooped all of that stuff. But of course it takes you bleeding from your butt for a doctor to do anything, I guess. Um, so I did get an MRI and during the MRI, I could actually feel the endometriosis being pulled by the magnet.
[00:37:09] Martha: It was so painful. It was bizarre. I did not expect that. And then the guy at the end, I know he could see something on the imaging but probably didn't know what it was or anything 'cause he was like, you did great. I hope you're okay or something. You're okay. You like had this look.
[00:37:26] Etienne: I see. I dunno what they are
[00:37:28] Martha: He like had this look like you're about to die of cancer or something. And I was like, oh, of course I was like, I could have colon cancer. I could have ovarian cancer. I don't know. Like, so since I work at this hospital which is the same organization where I got the MRI, as soon as I got outta there, I'm like refreshing my chart, refreshing my chart. Oh no, I wanna see the results.
[00:37:48] Martha: I wanna see the results. And I was at back at work and I got the results and it was like, I don't remember the size, but it equals out to the size of about a golf ball of endometriosis implant in that pouch of Douglas area. It was about to give me a rectal colon obstruction and which is where all the pain was coming from. One of my ovaries, it said was obliterated on the MRI. I had implants on my diaphragm.
[00:38:16] Etienne: Oh, wow.
[00:38:16] Martha: Which is interesting because my whole life leading up to that I always felt like I had to like yawn or like couldn't fill my lungs all the way, but
[00:38:24] Etienne: Oh wow.
[00:38:25] Martha: That's probably why.
[00:38:26] Martha: And then I had it a lot of other places that they couldn't see it on the MRI, which they can't, I guess, always see endometriosis on an MRI, but if you have it to the extent I did, you can.
[00:38:37] Martha: And so I think that needs to be, I think if anyone listening to this is having horrible pain, horrible bleeding, really suspects that they have endometriosis, they should go ask for an MRI of their abdomen because I'm so thankful that that doctor finally sent me for that. So then I already knew the results and I jumped with joy. I was sitting in an office with Nathan. Anyways, I was with him and Benjamin and I was like, I have a huge piece of endometriosis in my butt. And they were like, what? And I was
[00:39:09] Etienne: They're like, why are you happy about this?
[00:39:10] Martha: And I was like, I'm so happy. I have answers. I'm not crazy. S o from there, the doctor called me that day and was like, oh, you have endometriosis? I'm not surprised. It's really bad. It's probably stage four.
[00:39:24] Etienne: Oh they stage endometriosis?
[00:39:25] Martha: Mm-hmm.
[00:39:25] Etienne: I didn't know that.
[00:39:26] Martha: Yeah.
[00:39:26] Etienne: Okay.
[00:39:26] Martha: But what's another interesting fact about endometriosis though is the stage of it does not dictate how bad it makes you feel. So you can have one tiny implant on one of your ovaries and it can hurt as bad as stage four endometriosis. And then sometimes people that have endometriosis as bad as me don't know until they have a bowel obstruction.
[00:39:49] Etienne: Damn.
[00:39:50] Martha: And they go in to repair that and then they find that it was caused by endometriosis 'cause they don't have pain or symptoms.
[00:39:55] Etienne: Oh wow.
[00:39:55] Martha: So that's another reason it's just so scary is because it can go unnoticed for years depending on where it is or how it impacts your nerves. I had to have a hysterectomy and a bowel resection because of what they found. So that's why she ended up sending me to a surgical gynecologist 'cause she didn't feel comfortable with my case 'cause I had so much endometriosis. And then, I had to go to a GI doctor as well 'cause they had to do that bowel resection.
[00:40:23] Etienne: Wow.
[00:40:24] Martha: So I probably wouldn't have had to have all of these things somebody would've listened earlier. Cause every time I went to a doctor, they wanted me to take birth control pills. I would ask for another laparoscopic to laser it off like they did back in 2015 when they found it, because I did have relief in my symptoms.
[00:40:43] Martha: I forgot to mention that for about two years after that first laparoscopic when I had the bleeding and stuff, and they did the colposcopy and stuff.
[00:40:50] Etienne: Okay.
[00:40:51] Martha: They lasered the endometriosis out, and so I did have some relief for about two years. Not full relief, but I did feel better. So those do help. Doctors don't like to do them because they say that they're very concerned about buildup of scar tissue and stuff, but I know there's a lot of people that have had four or five laparoscopies and most of them say they help. So, I don't know. I support them, but I could never get anybody to give me one again.
[00:41:17] Martha: So I went to the GI doctor and he explained that they were gonna have to remove my entire rectal colon, which is the very bottom part of your colon. And he said I might wake up with a colostomy, like a temporary one. I went to the surgical gynecologist, and he was still like, are you sure you want a hysterectomy?
[00:41:38] Martha: You won't be able to have babies. And I was like, I don't you really think I can have babies, think I can have a baby right now? I'm like, what? And I was like, no, I'm quite certain at this point this is what I need, so let's just do it. So I had the surgery scheduled and I wasn't really nervous at all leading up to it, but it is weird to think about having your entire female anatomy removed, you know? 'Cause it's just, I dunno. And knowing that you're probably going to go into menopause and all of that stuff. So then I kind of chickened out about the total hysterectomy and I asked them to please try to leave at least one of my ovaries. Cause he said they'd have to take the one that was obliterated, which is the actual word they used, which I still think it's crazy.
[00:42:23] Martha: And I went in on December 12th, 2022, maybe I don't, 23, I don't remember what year it was. And during the consent, that was the first time they told me they were taking my cervix out just casually like, oh, you know, like, just sign this it says it's okay for us to take your uterus, whatever ovaries need to be taken out and your cervix. And I was like, my cervix.
[00:42:48] Etienne: Yeah. Does that automatically have to come out with your uterus?
[00:42:50] Martha: It doesn't.
[00:42:50] Etienne: Oh, it doesn't?
[00:42:51] Martha: No.
[00:42:51] Etienne: Oh, okay. I thought, okay.
[00:42:52] Martha: Um, it doesn't,
[00:42:53] Etienne: why were they wanting to do that?
[00:42:55] Martha: They, they do typically. Okay. Like most of the time they do. They don't have to. But I guess it's easier to close everything up.
[00:43:02] Etienne: Oh lord.
[00:43:02] Martha: If they take it. And this was a lady consenting me, probably a med student of some sort and she was like, you never have to have another pap smear. And I was like,
[00:43:10] Etienne: oh yeah, that's really the one terrible thing.
[00:43:13] Martha: I was like, alright, I dunno, whatever. Just take it. Yeah. So I don't have a cervix either, but it's fine. A lot of women don't, I guess.
[00:43:21] Martha: So went back for the surgery. I was back there I guess for 10 hours and they had to have a pulmonologist, get the endometriosis off of my diaphragm. Then they ended up having to call like a nephrology surgeon 'cause the endometriosis had wrapped around my right ureter. So it wasn't just in my rectal area and on my colon, it was also on my right kidney, which was enlarged. And my entire uterus and bladder were fused together. And then that was fused to my pelvic floor. Both of my ovaries were stuck to my uterus. So there was just basically my whole
[00:44:04] Etienne: Everything was just stuck together.
[00:44:04] Martha: Everything was stuck together.
[00:44:06] Etienne: Wow.
[00:44:06] Martha: The whole thing.
[00:44:07] Etienne: Wow.
[00:44:07] Martha: Yeah. When the surgical gynecologist came to see me after the surgery, he actually said like, it looked like you had an alien inside of you that had just wrapped its tentacles around everything. It was really bad.
[00:44:20] Etienne: Oh my god.
[00:44:20] Martha: And of course my husband and my mom were like freaking out 'cause it took nine hours to, to do all of this. And, I was supposed to go home.
[00:44:29] Etienne: Wait, how much, how long did they expect you, you were supposed to be back there.
[00:44:31] Martha: Oh. Like two to three hours.
[00:44:33] Etienne: And you did not
[00:44:34] Martha: there for nine hours.
[00:44:35] Etienne: Oh. Did nobody come And update them to let them know you're still okay?
[00:44:38] Martha: I think somebody did along the way. I hope. I don't know. Yeah.
[00:44:42] Jane: Did. How were they? I'm so sorry, but I'm just wondering like, what did the, how were they, were they doing this laparoscopically? Were they like opening, like were you just like wide open on the table? I'm just imagining how could they
[00:44:52] Martha: no, they did the whole thing laparoscopically.
[00:44:54] Etienne: That's amazing.
[00:44:55] Martha: Which is amazing. Yeah.
[00:44:56] Etienne: That's amazing.
[00:44:57] Martha: Yeah. And I did not have a colostomy, but. I wish that I did because I had so many complications that I'll talk about later. But, so I honestly would've rather had a reversible colostomy than go through what I went through.
[00:45:09] Martha: So I was supposed to go home, you usually spend like one night in the hospital after hysterectomy.
[00:45:24] Martha: But I was in the hospital for eight days because I had where they had removed the endometriosis from my ureter of my kidney, which is like the little tube that brings urine to your bladder, it collapsed on itself. And so my kidney became very enlarged. So I'd have another surgery to put a stent in to open that back up. And then after all of this, I could no longer pee on my own. So I had a Foley for several days after the surgery. And they finally took it out and were like, you'll pee eventually.
[00:45:45] Etienne: And the Foley is the catheter they put in. So that
[00:45:48] Martha: Yeah. Sorry.
[00:45:49] Etienne: Not everybody knows that.
[00:45:49] Martha: Oh yeah. Not everybody's a nurse. A Foley catheter is a tube that goes into your urethra so that the urine can come out of your bladder without you having to pee. And it has a bag attached to it that catches the urine.
[00:46:03] Martha: So it's like a tube in your urethra. So I had that, they removed it, two or three days after the surgery, after I had my kidney fixed. And, I didn't at the time even think about the fact that I didn't pee for like 15 hours or something. But finally the nurses were like, are you sure you don't have to pee? And I was like, no, I'm fine.
[00:46:23] Etienne: Did they wait 15 hours to ask you?
[00:46:24] Martha: Oh yeah.
[00:46:25] Etienne: Oh, somebody's in trouble, man.
[00:46:26] Martha: Somebody knows. Horrible. And so I would sit on the toilet and run the faucet. And here's the weird thing. My whole life I had this recurring dream that I could not pee, which is really weird, I think. I don't know. So in my dreams, I would be sitting there on the toilet trying so hard to pee, and I couldn't make it come out. It happened to me in real life. I was like, it's a, it was like a
[00:46:49] Etienne: it was a premonition.
[00:46:49] Martha: It was a premonition because I would just sit there and try to pee and try to pee and they would turn the faucet on and stick my hand in water and whatever, and I could not pee. But again. No one would listen to me.
[00:47:00] Etienne: Oh Lord.
[00:47:01] Martha: They were like, no, you're peeing. And I was like, no, I'm not peeing. I swear to you I can't pee. What do you mean? No, just try. I sat on the toilet for 30 minutes. No pee will come out. I can push, like I could push and pee would come out, but I couldn't pee on my own.
[00:47:14] Martha: They finally did a bladder scan and I had over a liter of urine in my bladder, which should only hold, like you should have to pee when it has 300 milliliters in it. And I am four foot 11 and like a hundred pounds. And I had a liter of urine in my bladder. You couldn't tell 'cause I was so swollen and everything. Anyways, so they had to put another Foley catheter back in. I had that, they took it out again a couple days later 'cause they were like, you'll be able to pee now. It'll be fine. Couldn't pee.
[00:47:45] Etienne: Yeah right.
[00:47:45] Martha: Couldn't pee.
[00:47:47] Etienne: No
[00:47:47] Martha: I had been in the hospital forever. I was like, can I just go home with the foley? I just wanna go home like I'm done. So I had a Foley catheter at home for about a month.
[00:47:58] Martha: And I would go in periodically and go back to the doctor and they would actually take the foley catheter out and instill saline into my bladder and tell me to go try to pee. And I could never do it. So I ended up having to start cathing myself, like self cath in and out, cathing is what they call it. So had the little straws that I would cath myself with. And that's just how it was. It came in the mail. I had to do that every four to six hours and never felt like I had to pee. Weirdest thing. But it was, it, it makes you kind of panicky. 'cause I'm like, if I leave the house without one of my catheters or like something happens, I would come up with these scenarios.
[00:48:38] Martha: I'm gonna get kidnapped and I'm gonna die because I can't pee and I'm not gonna have a way. I don't know, I just overthink everything. So. I was just kind of resigned to the fact that this is the new normal. I'm not in pain, I'm not pooping blood anymore.
[00:48:52] Martha: But then along with all of the not being able to pee and stuff, I also couldn't poop. So I went 14 days without pooping, and again, no one listened to me.
[00:49:01] Etienne: 14 days.
[00:49:03] Martha: The GI doctor told me specifically like, don't take stool softeners. Don't take MiraLax. You'll be able to poop on your own. It'll be fine. I think what failed me was they were not thinking about how this was not a typical hysterectomy.
[00:49:17] Martha: It was a much more, you know, I had a bowel resection at the same time, had all this other stuff. Oh my gosh, I've never been in so much pain in my life. I
[00:49:25] Etienne: I can't imagine 14 days of poo inside of you.
[00:49:27] Martha: He just, I'll show you the
[00:49:28] Jane: I'm like a liter of pee is probably just nothing compared to what was
[00:49:32] Etienne: in the poo. Yeah.
[00:49:33] Martha: Yeah. It was so bad. So I had a CT, which as a nurse, when I saw the results, I was like, what is happening in my body? Turns out that when you have a bowel resection, they take, so your colon kind of has these like normal twists and turns that it looks like when you see it on imaging. Oh no. They take that down. So now my colon is just like a jiggly blob in there. It doesn't have like the, it's not like tacked up.
[00:50:00] Etienne: Oh, it's just like willy nilly wherever it wants to go.
[00:50:02] Martha: Uhhuh. So again, another thing that the surgeon could have told me
[00:50:06] Etienne: Wow.
[00:50:06] Martha: That I found out on my own through imaging.
[00:50:09] Etienne: Oh.
[00:50:09] Martha: But I was in and out of the hospital because I couldn't poop. Once when I was in the hospital, I had a CT scan with rectal contrast where they put a balloon up my butt
[00:50:19] Etienne: Oh no.
[00:50:19] Martha: And put contrast into my colon.
[00:50:21] Etienne: Oh.
[00:50:22] Martha: Which was horrible. And the little guy that pushed me to the CT scanner after it was over, 'cause we went back there and they were like, okay, we're gonna put a balloon in your butt and put contrast up it. And I was like, what? And so the little guy that pushed me brought me a mug with a Bible verse on it, like after and he was like, I'm so sorry. You're probably having a worse day than anyone else here.
[00:50:45] Etienne: Oh God.
[00:50:46] Martha: And so I still have that mug, even though I don't care about Bible verses. I thought it was nice.
[00:50:50] Etienne: Wow.
[00:50:51] Martha: And so I have had that done four times now because I could never poop. And I did finally poop after, had to do the bowel clean out thing that you would do before, a colonoscopy or whatever, where you drink a gallon of MiraLax with all the Gatorade and stuff.
[00:51:07] Martha: I mean, after they saw how constipated I was, that's what they told me to do.
[00:51:11] Etienne: Wow.
[00:51:11] Martha: So, that's what I ended up doing. And I have never been, I mean, the pain from endometriosis is bad. This pain from constipation was horrible. I was laying on my bathroom floor. I wanted to die. I was nauseous, hurting, crying, didn't want anyone around me pooping on a towel in the floor.
[00:51:31] Martha: It was so humiliating. Oh my gosh. It was horrible. So then all of that kind of resolved finally over time.
[00:51:39] Martha: Something else they should tell you after hysterectomy though, is that your vagina gets huge and it looks like a hamburger.
[00:51:44] Etienne: What?
[00:51:44] Martha: Because I woke up.
[00:51:45] Jane: Wait
[00:51:46] Etienne: Wait
[00:51:47] Heidi: Wait, wait
[00:51:47] Martha: My whole vagina was massive. It was so big.
[00:51:50] Etienne: What was massive?
[00:51:50] Martha: My vagina.
[00:51:52] Etienne: Oh my gosh.
[00:51:52] Martha: It was huge. I was like, is it ever, is it being
[00:51:55] Etienne: swollen.
[00:51:56] Heidi: Like the lips and stuff?
[00:51:58] Martha: Yes. Like the lips and stuff were so
[00:52:00] Heidi: Oh God
[00:52:02] Martha: I was like, is this ever gonna look normal again? Like, how can this ever look normal again?
[00:52:06] Etienne: Oh my God.
[00:52:07] Martha: So
[00:52:07] Etienne: I've never heard that.
[00:52:08] Martha: Yeah. It was really bad. I was, I was like, I don't wanna look at this ever again. Like what is happening?
[00:52:14] Heidi: When was that you finally felt normal after the like like fully normal, like, Hey, I am back.
[00:52:21] Martha: So I had the hysterectomy in December and then in February I went back, no, the first week of March, sorry, the first week of March I went back to work and felt fine, whatever. I just couldn't pee still.
[00:52:35] Martha: I was still cathing myself, but I was okay. Went back to work and then I was cleared to have sex and stuff. And so, and it had been months, everything should have been fine.
[00:52:45] Martha: And then when I had sex for the first time after, I didn't like feel any, like it didn't hurt or anything but after I thought I had peed myself 'cause everything was like wet everywhere and I was like, went in the back bathroom and I was sobbing 'cause I thought I had like, peed massively all over myself and all over my husband. But I then afterwards started feeling sick and I was like, something's not right. I don't know what's wrong.
[00:53:07] Etienne: Oh gosh.
[00:53:08] Martha: So I took a shower. I don't even know why I took a shower, but that's what I did. And then I, got outta the shower, was sitting on my bed and I was like, to my husband, something is wrong with like, I can't put my finger on it, but something's wrong.
[00:53:20] Martha: And then I just start projectile vomiting, couldn't stop, vomiting, vomiting, vomiting. I what? And then I was in like. Horrendous pain. It's my husband who's the most cautious driver ever put a towel down in his seat because also every time I puked blood and weird, clear liquid, would ooze out of my vagina, which I didn't know where it was coming from.
[00:53:39] Martha: I didn't know if it was my bladder or what. So he put me in the car and drove 40 miles an hour to the hospital and I was like, please just fucking drive the car faster. I'm dying. I think I'm dying. We got to the hospital, he had to pick me up outta the car and carry me inside and thankfully they got me back really fast, but, I was just dry heaving so much.
[00:53:58] Martha: I'm in this room with glass doors and all of a sudden I had had to go like had to poop. So I'm pooping on a bedside commode in the emergency room in front of glass doors, dry heaving. It was so miserable.
[00:54:11] Etienne: Oh my God.
[00:54:11] Martha: I asked the nurse if I could please just have Zofran and she was so rude and she was like, you don't have an IV and I don't have orders, so sorry. There's nothing I can do. And I never
[00:54:20] Etienne: What? How about like under the tongue? Like
[00:54:22] Martha: I was like, yeah, no, I know. I was like, I'm not even asking for pain medicine. I just want Zofran.
[00:54:27] Etienne: Oh.
[00:54:27] Martha: And I never do this, but I did say like, I work here and I am in a leadership role and this is not okay. And, they sent a tech in to start my IV and she was like, I'm not touching that lady because I looked awful. I am quite certain I looked awful. I was septic. Just awful. My vitals were awful. It was a mess. So my poor husband had to carry this giant bucket of my poop into another bathroom 'cause no one was helping us. And it was just sitting in the bedside commode making me sick because of the smell, so that was a bad experience, too.
[00:55:00] Etienne: Oh my god.
[00:55:00] Martha: And then they got me, like, they gave me pain meds, Zofran, whatever got me to where I was just laying there calm. And then, I had another rectal contrast CT. And then finally they sent the gynecology people in and they did a vaginal exam, which hurt so bad, so bad. And they were like, oh, your vaginal cuff, which is where they sew you up after a hysterectomy, is ripped open and your colon is coming out. So that is what had happened to me.
[00:55:29] Etienne: What?
[00:55:29] Martha: Which is a very rare complication. It usually only happens to people who are kind of like overweight and have a bigger stomach that puts pressure on that area. So they were like, sorry, we don't know why this happened. And then of course after that, the nurse was like, huh. Oh my God. Do you need some Dilaudid? Do you need some phenergan? I'm so sorry. And I was like, yeah bitch, I needed this like three hours ago. I've been sitting here with my colon coming out of my vagina. Thanks.
[00:55:56] Etienne: So wait, did you find out what the clear liquid was that the
[00:55:58] Martha: It was just like fluid from inside my body. Yeah. I don't know, just whatever. So then I had to have surgery again, to sew everything back in. And then I was terrified to have sex for,
[00:56:10] Etienne: yeah
[00:56:11] Martha: A year. I don't know. I don't, I don't even know how long. And then I still couldn't pee. So all of that was done, whatever. I was out of work again for like a month. They gave me five Percocets or oxycodone or something when I left the hospital after, after that five. And I was in so much pain. I ended up calling my mom hysterically screaming and she called the doctor's office and they were like, yeah, we'll just have the surgeon call her back.
[00:56:37] Martha: And she said, no, you won't. You'll find him right now and you'll put him on the phone with me. And so he called me five minutes later and was like, I can't believe they only gave you five oxys. I'm so sorry. I'm sending a prescription in for 30. And I was like, thank you. So I don't even know.
[00:56:53] Martha: Now I feel bad. Like I'm just making it sound like the whole system failed me when really I feel like I had some okay doctors. I think I just had all of the weird complications that no one normally has. So, then after I cathed myself for about a year
[00:57:08] Etienne: oh my God
[00:57:09] Martha: Had some like nerve tests and stuff done. They were hoping all of that would come back, but unfortunately the endometriosis had kind of like strangled off all of my nerves. I think even if I hadn't had the hysterectomy and done all of this, eventually I wouldn't have been able to pee on my own anyways.
[00:57:24] Martha: But then I learned about bladder stimulators. So they have a nerve stimulator that they use for people, who have back pain and stuff. But they also can help with incontinence and urinary retention. So I ended up trialing that. They put the stimulator externally, and just put them wires in.
[00:57:44] Martha: And so I did that and it ended up helping improve my ability to pee. So now I only have to cath myself like maybe once a week I'll have a time where I can't pee. But that thing was a miracle. And I can pee again for the most part.
[00:57:58] Etienne: Yeah.
[00:57:59] Martha: But now probably. I think it's been two years since all of all the things happened and I finally feel great. So, yeah.
[00:58:11] Etienne: This is the end of part one of Martha's story of her experience with endometriosis. For the second half of this recording, please click on the next episode.
[00:58:21] Etienne: That's our show you've been listening to The Women are Plotting. If you have a story you'd like to share or have any comments, we'd love to hear from you. Email us at info@thewomenareplotting.com and of course you can find us on all the socials. Thanks, and until next time, be safe and be excellent to each other.
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