HI everyone! My name is Jenn and I have had endometriosis for a little of ten years ( diagnosed ). I am 29 and live in Southern California with my husband, Michael. We are in the process of adopting a newborn as I can't have children. Mike is an amazingly supportive husband and has helped me through a lot of this. My mother has been incredible and was by my side for all my surgeries. She is my angel. Mike is Director of Operations for a Country club locally and I am an author. This is fortunate as I will be able to stay home full time when the baby comes. I knew something was wrong when I was about 14. My menstrual cramps were painful, to the extent I could not do most things loved by the typical teen like ride a bike, go to parties or participate in sports. And the bleeding, well, you can relate to that I am certain. I felt alone and confused. Why was this happening to me?

My mother took me to my pediatrician and then to an internist, but the only diagnosing to do was with my psyche and not my physical self. I was devastated. How could I be thinking up something this awful? Clearly there was something else. I knew it, my mom knew it, yet we were getting nowhere. My resolve began to turn to hopelessness when I finally went to the gynecologist, he taught me a new word: Endometriosis. I could barely pronounce the word let alone actually believe a doctor had finally uncovered what might be the answer to years of questions. I was beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel, but that light was quickly dimmed when I found our that Endometriosis or "endo" was incurable. The doctor came out and told my family what he had found; Endometriosis. Little did I realize that this one word would change my life forever.

I have since had seven laparoscopies, a total abdominal hysterectomy slapingo- oopherectomy (removal of uterus, both tubes and ovaries) and two subsequent surgeries for an adhesions and bowel obstruction. I have been on Lupron twice, Danazol once and Birth Control Pills. As you well know, this was only a form of maintenance, and after each cycle was finished, I would need surgery again. A pattern soon developed. Pain, medication, surgery, hormonal medication, brief reprieve and it would begin all over gain. I was diagnosed at 18 and I am now 29. I feel like I am far older. Somehow, living with this disease makes you grow up fast.

You are never alone.

All the best, Jenn