Just a thought

I remain flabbergasted by the people who do their best to pretend I haven't had major surgery or to ignore my health issues. Because, oh my god, it has to do with my womanly parts.

To say I consider these people utterly pathetic would be too kind. No, I don't need you to hold my hand and sing kumbaya at a campfire. You don't have to say the word 'uterus' if you're truly that uptight and it freaks you out. But, geez, if you see me a month after my surgery and can't even say, "Looks like you're feeling better," or "How are you?" or anything like that, then, well, um, wow.

In all seriousness, setting aside my own personal annoyances with people -

It wasn't all that long ago that no one would acknowledge breast cancer. It was considered shameful and embarrassing and you were supposed to go to your corner and not speak up about this horrible disease, because heaven forbid we say the word "breast" in polite company.

2.5 million women in the United States have had breast cancer, are survivors or are warriors. To put that in perspective, the population of Nevada is 2.6 million.

Endometriosis doesn't kill you. It just does its best to destroy your life. Sometimes I go to the various endo support sites and I just weep, reading the posts from all these women who are suffering. Here's a sampling of subject lines from a boards I frequent:

22 & a hysterectomy? Advice, please!
Horrible ER experience
Bleeding won't stop
Ruptured chocolate cysts
Endo found on bowels
I just can't stand it anymore
Which painkillers work best
Finally giving up on having a baby
Lost my job, too many days out


The average woman suffers for 9.28 years before they're diagnosed. And then once you're diagnosed - guess what, there's no cure.

Take a look at this survey of 4000 members of the Endometriosis Association. 79% of those women report they cannot carry on normal activities as a result of their disease. 61% of them were told there was nothing wrong with them the first time they sought help from their doctor.

All that suffering - but we're not supposed to talk about it.

There are 5 million of us with endometriosis in the United States today. That's more than the population of the state of Colorado. It's five Rhode Islands.

God forbid we make you a little uncomfortable by talking about it, though.