I’ve been comparing my body to Candy Crush a lot lately. It’s been a funny old time. See, I haven’t been very well for a while. No, it’s not ailment although I wouldn’t recommend being fairly seriously ill with anything during a pandemic. It makes everything much harder. No, it turns out that I have a chronic medical condition called endometriosis – a condition almost as baffling as it is to spell and say.
Essentially, it’s a condition that affects those who menstruate. At its simplest, it’s where the tissue that normally grows inside of your uterus incorrectly grows outside of it and causes all kinds of havoc. Instead of your body shedding such tissue naturally each month, it all goes a bit wrong. Your body conserves it and it starts hanging around in areas that it really has no right to be. Kind of like a floating invader except – foolishly – your own body created it. It can go mostly anywhere – abdominal organs are popular but even your diaphragm is a possible victim. Some very rare cases have even found it within one’s brain.
In my case, it was causing both of my ovaries to stick together with two different parts of my colon, and my uterus. Oh, and my appendix came along for the ride too. Over three hours worth of surgery taught me this while a very skilled surgeon conducted a good job of removing the majority of the tissue. If you don’t remove all the tissue, it runs the risk of growing back rapidly. It can and almost certainly will grow back anyhow as this is a chronic complaint, but a good surgeon and a regular supply of contraceptive medication helps significantly in slowing it down.
That’s important because endometriosis can be (and often is) agony. I’ve had times where I’ve been doubled over in pain walking around a Tesco. Another time, I could barely walk upstairs after taking the bin bags out. I’ve suffered from roughly 18 months of crippling digestive issues that would keep me up for hours at night. It turns out your colon really doesn’t like working properly while stuck to an ovary that’s also struggling to function.