5 points on how to make your home a church:
1. Prayer (Pray with each other and for each other)
2. Read Scripture (have a quiet time daily)
3. Worship together (sing or listen to christian music)
4. Ministry (serve others in your church/community)
5. Missions Trips
But as for me and my house, we will serve The Lord! Joshua 24:15
♥ www.geordannatheartist.com ♥
Costarican-American Visual Artist born in Houston, living in Dallas.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
9 weeks Open Bowel resectioning-Post Op
So much has happen since I last wrote. I turned 29 and had a small relaxing birthday party with all the people that love me. I got so many presents. My sis even ordered gluten free cupcskes for me! They were dee-licious!
Well it's been about 9 weeks post op and endometriosis wise I feel so much better! My past two periods were pretty painful but nothing like before. I can actually feel less pain with each subsequent period.
Now on the other side of all this is my digestive system. Having had two section of my bowels removed has proven the hardest part of all this. I had a complication with the resectioning surgery that has lengthened my recovery. Dont get me wrong I'm so much better than 9 weeks ago. My period pain is diminishing and I hope it will be non existent soon. My digestive system is another story. The pain, bloating, the being tethered to the bathroom has been hard.
I am trying so hard to stay positive but pain has this funny thing it does to you where you pretty much become hopeless and desperate.
I am trying to look up towards God and since this week is Thanksgiving I am focusing my time on being thankfill for all the many blessing I already have.
Our church, Trinity has been an amazing support system!
Well it's been about 9 weeks post op and endometriosis wise I feel so much better! My past two periods were pretty painful but nothing like before. I can actually feel less pain with each subsequent period.
Now on the other side of all this is my digestive system. Having had two section of my bowels removed has proven the hardest part of all this. I had a complication with the resectioning surgery that has lengthened my recovery. Dont get me wrong I'm so much better than 9 weeks ago. My period pain is diminishing and I hope it will be non existent soon. My digestive system is another story. The pain, bloating, the being tethered to the bathroom has been hard.
I am trying so hard to stay positive but pain has this funny thing it does to you where you pretty much become hopeless and desperate.
I am trying to look up towards God and since this week is Thanksgiving I am focusing my time on being thankfill for all the many blessing I already have.
Our church, Trinity has been an amazing support system!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
My Story Endometriosis Story
 |
| Endometriosis by Geordanna the Artist |
I have been living with Endometriosis for 15+ years but was just recently (positively) diagnosed with stage IV during a laparoscopy this April 2010. I had never even heard of this disease until this year. I thank God for the internet bc the internet is what helped me better understand this horribly debilitating disease. I learned about my options and the best methods/doctors out there.
My life has always revolved around my intense cyclical menstrual pain and extreme fatigue--thinking it was just a burden I had to carry as a women.Now that I know its not my "duty" to go through this I am looking everywhere to find help. I def can't live like this forever!
Also, it has been now proven that my infertility is a direct correlation of my endo. At this point in my life all I want to do is be a mother so to be robbed of that choice is heart breaking. I am trying to stay positive and am hoping that through surgeries and fertility meds J and I can one day get pregnant.
The only other person that this has drastically effected is my poor husband J. We haven't even been married a year and I joke that we have gone through more in one year than a normal couple go through in a decade!
The cyclical pain, fatigue and emotional toll is unbearable at times but I know others are going through the same thing. I hope I can connect with those others that are going through or have gone through the physical and emotional roller coaster of this disease called endometriosis. I welcome anyone to "like" my page and I hope by being transparent and putting it all out there the world will start to take this disease much more seriously! No its not cancer. I cannot die from it but this disease, at times, makes me wish I could die. I want everyone to realize that just because I look ok on the outside doesn't mean I am not suffering.
I had my 2nd laparoscopy Sept 22, 2010 in Houston TX with Dr. Rakesh Mangal that actually tunred into a laparootomy becasue i simply had too much extensive damage. Dr. Mangal is a endometriosis specialist that uses CO2 laser excision and is VERY familiar with endo on the bowels and bladder. He believes that women with endo need a TEAM of doctors and specialist. He referred me to Dr. John R. Mathias a neuro-gastroenterologist who discovered I also have enteric nerve disease and put me on a strick diet and anti-seizure meds. he wanted me to calm my enteric system down before I had the surgery. I also have a Pain Management Specialist to better understand my pain and ALL my options since meds like vicodeine can actually make my symptoms worse.
During my surgery Dr. Mangal was accompanied by my colon-rectal surgeron, Dr. Pickron and a urologist because the endo on my bladder and bowels needed to be removed. I had two sections of my colon removed and my appendix removed. I had a medium sized cyst removed from my left ovary, had a D&C and stents placed.
I am also on the hormone progesterone to suppress my periods before and at least 3 months after surgery. Hormones and me DO NOT mix and it has been hell these last few weeks. CRAZY mood swings, crying, depressed, anxious, easily irritated, you name it I am going through it. I just don't feel like myself! I literally feel like I am going insane.
PAST: As far back as I can remember I have always had to miss at least 3 days every month of school or work. I have tried every kind of birth control pill (to regulate my period and minimize the pain but the pain only got worse) but my body simply is too sensitive and I can't stand them. For about the last 5 years my monthly pains have been getting progressively worse and worse. I now only have about 2 weeks a month that I feel good. The rest of the month I am either too fatigued, too emotional or in too much pain or all three! I have had over 10 doctors and the last 4 were just in the last 2 years! All the doctors before were dismissive and just kept telling me to get on birth control pills even though I would tell them that the pill just makes my symptoms worse. No one would listen. I finally got fed up because I knew there was something obvious wrong. The progression this last year (2010) has been significant. My health was deteriorating fast. I had to do something.
After the 8 Hour surgery, Dr. Mangal, came outside to talk to my husband and family letting them know that I had ALOT of endo and that I have been in excruciating pain for quite sometime. Although I do not doubt they knew I had been in pain I think it REALLY hit home when the doctor described to them in detail my pain and why. My mom started crying bc she felt so bad that she never knew it was THAT bad. Dr. Mangal also said that the endo had damaged my fallopian tubes. He said my ovaries and Uterus are great but he fears J and I would have a VERY difficult time conceiving naturally. Even if we do conceive naturally he is afraid of miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies (tubal pregnancies). So he advised that J and I do in vitro. So, That's where we are at now. I am set to see Dr. Mangal on my birthday Nov 3, 2010 to discuss our plan. Our window of opportunity is very small bc Dr. Mangal said the best chances for us to get pregnant would be 3-6 months after this surgery.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Post 8 hour Open Bowel and Excision Surgery for Stage IV Endo
September 22, 2010 I had major surgery for stage IV Endometriosis.
I was hoping it would be a few hours long and that laparoscopically would suffice but alas that was not to be. I now have a 9 inch "bikini cut" incision and after an 8 hours surgery this is what they did:
removed 3 "diseased" areas of my bowels (re sectioned with anastomosis), removed diseased appendix, excised all the endo from around my uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes, removed a large ovarian cyst on my left ovary, had a D&C and urinary stents placed.
It's been about a week now and I would be lying if I said this was getting better day by day. This has been the hardest thing I have ever had to go through.
I am only 28 years old, still a newly wed and haven't had children yet....
I plan on writing more but I am in just too much pain right now. I will try to write later today or tomorrow.
On a happier note: We got our wedding videos! :)
My poor husband has been amazing through all this. We have only been married about 10 months. I know this is something he definitely didn't not expect to be having to go through.
Here is the trailer:
J and Geordanna's Wedding Trailer
I was hoping it would be a few hours long and that laparoscopically would suffice but alas that was not to be. I now have a 9 inch "bikini cut" incision and after an 8 hours surgery this is what they did:
removed 3 "diseased" areas of my bowels (re sectioned with anastomosis), removed diseased appendix, excised all the endo from around my uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes, removed a large ovarian cyst on my left ovary, had a D&C and urinary stents placed.
It's been about a week now and I would be lying if I said this was getting better day by day. This has been the hardest thing I have ever had to go through.
I am only 28 years old, still a newly wed and haven't had children yet....
I plan on writing more but I am in just too much pain right now. I will try to write later today or tomorrow.
On a happier note: We got our wedding videos! :)
My poor husband has been amazing through all this. We have only been married about 10 months. I know this is something he definitely didn't not expect to be having to go through.
Here is the trailer:
J and Geordanna's Wedding Trailer
Friday, June 11, 2010
So no one else will suffer!
So no one else will suffer
Posted: Thursday, December 10, 2009 1:00 am
By Lisa Fipps managing editor
editor@kokomoperspective.com
Kristi An Rose suffered with endometriosis for 12 years, from 1997 until May 7, 2009 – the day she put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger.
It was a tragic ending of a life that held great promise, a life that is dearly missed, a life that could have been different if more in the medical community knew how debilitating the condition is, knew how much those with it suffer, and knew to take it more seriously, according to her mother, Sherill Rose Hill.
Nightmare begins
In school, Kristi was very outgoing. After graduating from Northwestern High School, she was a workaholic, said Sherill. Kristi worked several jobs and loved it. She always loved art, especially photography. But at the age of 17, she was already having medical problems.
“Kristi had really bad pains in her abdomen during her periods,” Sherill said. “It wasn’t your typical cramps. It was abnormal. I took her to a couple of doctors. They all said, ‘She’s a teenager trying to get attention.’ That wasn’t Kristi at all. I ended up taking her to Indianapolis to Dr. David McLaughlin of Women’s Specialty Health Centers. He said, ‘I think I know what’s wrong.’ He did a laparoscopy on Feb. 12, 1997. He said she had endometriosis. She was so thrilled to know what was going on because everybody had said she was making it up. She knew she wasn’t.”
Endometriosis “occurs when tissue like that which lines the uterus (tissue called the endometrium) is found outside the uterus – usually in the abdomen on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and ligaments that support the uterus; the area between the vagina and rectum; the outer surface of the uterus; and the lining of the pelvic cavity,” according to the Endometriosis Association.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, symptoms of endometriosis can include but are not limited to the following:
•extremely painful (or disabling) menstrual cramps; pain may get worse over time
•chronic pelvic pain (includes lower back pain and pelvic pain)
•pain during or after sex
•intestinal pain
•painful bowel movements or painful urination during menstrual periods
•heavy menstrual periods
•premenstrual spotting or bleeding between periods
•infertility
A few months later, Kristi had a microlaser laparotomy to vaporize the endometriosis.
For the first time in years, she felt better. The pain was gone. She was happy. So was Sherill. It’s excruciating to watch your child in such pain, Kristi’s mom said.
But then the endometriosis came back.
“The most recent studies have shown that endometriosis recurs at a rate of 20 to 40 percent within five years following surgery,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Kristi’s came back in less than a year. She had another surgery to vaporize more of the tissue. It returned again.
In October 2000, Kristi and Sherill flew to Oregon to see a specialist. That doctor performed an oophorectomy, removing her left ovary. They found out that her fallopian tubes were packed with eggs. The endometriosis had prevented them from dropping down to the uterus monthly. Some would ask why Kristi didn’t have a hysterectomy. Doctors were hesitant to do that considering how young she was, Sherill said.
Besides, a hysterectomy is not a cure. Currently, there is no cure for endometriosis. Even having a hysterectomy or removing the ovaries does not guarantee that the endometriosis areas and/or the symptoms of endometriosis will not come back.
After the surgery in Oregon, Kristi was still in pain. “That was a big let down,” Sherill said. “We thought it would be great. We thought it’d be all over.”
Kristi was in constant pain. Her mom searched the Internet trying to find someone who could help. In 2003, Kristi and Sherill headed to Birmingham, Ala., to see a specialist at the Chronic Pelvic Pain Treatment Center.
“When we drove there, we had big hopes,” Sherill said. “By the time we walked out of there, they’d diagnosed her with five different problems – all related to endometriosis.”
Severe pelvic congestive syndrome, vulvar vestibulitis, pelvic floor myalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and abdominal wall trigger points.
Kristi also suffered from severe interstitial fibrosis of the bladder with chronic interstitial cystitis, a condition that results in recurring discomfort or pain in the bladder and the surrounding pelvic region.
The autopsy report gives a glimpse of just have pervasive the endometriosis was in Kristi’s body. It was on her liver. It was on her bowels. It was on her right kidney. Her right ovary had multiple cysts with large “chocolate cysts” (cysts that form when endometrial tissue invades an ovary), including one that had ruptured right before her death. Her fallopian tubes and right ovary had adhered to her uterus and pelvic wall. There were multiple fibrous pelvic adhesions.
“The doctor who did the autopsy said she had more endometriosis than anyone he’d ever seen,” Sherill said.
To say she was in pain is an understatement.
Kristi gave up. She was tired of doctors. She was tired of hospitals. She was tired of the pain.
In 2006, Sherill’s husband, Kristi’s stepfather, Mike Hill, developed cancer. Sherill was torn between helping her daughter who was suffering and her husband who was suffering.
“I told her, ‘We’re going to find something for you,’ ” Sherill said. She pleaded with her daughter to hang in there until they found someone who could help. By then Kristi had no insurance. Her mom and stepdad helped pay for her medical expenses. Kristi hated that. She was independent. She wanted to take care of herself.
On April 16, 2009, Mike Hill died.
“Kristi said, ‘Look at him. He’s at peace. I would love to be at peace,” Sherill said.
She began to worry about her daughter. She was sinking deeper and deeper into depression. A letter Kristi wrote on April 4 details her thoughts: “I am so tired of the pain. It is enough to drive someone crazy. Having constant pain all the time is enough to want to give up. Enough to want to put my fragile body to rest. My body can’t take any more. My brain is past the breaking point. My heart is broken. God, my heart is broken.”
“She was having grand mal seizures and pretty much bed-ridden then,” Sherill said of her daughter. “I got an uneasy feeling,” Sherill said. “So I hid the gun we kept in the house. Three days prior to her dying, she said, ‘I don’t want this anymore. They can’t fix me.’ I begged her. I said, ‘Please, let me see what I can find out. We’ll find something. She said no. ‘You’re not going to take me to another doctor, who will just take your money and say, ‘Well, we don’t know what else to do for her.’ ”
On May 7, 2009, Sherill was on her way home from a short trip to Kentucky and called her daughter.
“I told her I was almost home,” Sherill said, tears flowing down her cheeks. “She said, ‘I want you to remember one thing.’ I said, ‘What?’ She said, ‘I love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very much, Mom, and she just kept saying it. And I said I love you very, very, very much, too.’ ”
As Sherill drove home, Kristi searched the house and found the gun. She went outside to the back yard. She put the gun to her head. She pulled the trigger.
“When I got home, the police were in the yard,” Sherill said, sobbing. “I couldn’t pull into the driveway. My son, Tom, was there. I have another son, Michael. Tom had been in the house, and the neighbors came and got him. They said, ‘Your sister’s lying in the backyard.’ My son went out and got her. That’s just been very hard for him. He said, ‘I held her and she wasn’t talking.’ He said he kept thinking, ‘I gotta get this fixed before mom gets home.’ When I pulled up in the yard, as soon as I got out of the car, Tom grabbed a hold of me so tightly I could hardly breathe. He said, ‘Kristi shot herself.’ He held me so tight and he wouldn’t let go. I said, ‘Is she alive?’ He said, ‘Yes. They’re trying to get her stable.’ They wouldn’t let me go to the back yard. It seemed like forever and then they brought her to the front and put her in the ambulance. I yelled at her to fight like hell, and then we were on our way to the hospital. It wasn’t very long before they came out and said she didn’t make it. I said, ‘Can I see her?’ They let me see her, and when I looked at her I knew it was over for her. She suffered so much pain. Pain was a daily thing. The doctors didn’t take it as seriously as they could or should have.”
There was no funeral. Kristi had always said she wanted to be cremated. “I was with her every step of the way, I wasn’t going to let her go through that by herself,” Sherill said. “I’m not going to let her down now. I went down to Greenwood where they do it. I kissed her. I talked to her and then I watched as they took care of her.”
Sherill broke down in tears.
Her daughter killed herself 20 days after her husband died. Twenty days after her daughter’s suicide, Sherill had a dream. In it, Kristi was smiling, running, happy, free.
“That’s the one thing that’s kept me going because I know she’s not in pain anymore,” Sherill said, crying. “I’m just crying for myself now. I’m just so lonely I don’t know what to do with myself. I just don’t know what to do.”
What she has done, with her from her two sons, is have a fundraiser in Kristi’s memory, with the proceeds going to the Endometriosis Research Center.
“I wanted to help somebody else,” Sherill said. “So no one else has to live that way. I just want everybody to know how much pain she went through, how much she suffered, so this doesn’t happen to anybody else.”
To contact Sherill about the fundraiser, send an e-mail to endokristi [at] yahoo [dot] com
Posted: Thursday, December 10, 2009 1:00 am
By Lisa Fipps managing editor
editor@kokomoperspective.com
Kristi An Rose suffered with endometriosis for 12 years, from 1997 until May 7, 2009 – the day she put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger.
It was a tragic ending of a life that held great promise, a life that is dearly missed, a life that could have been different if more in the medical community knew how debilitating the condition is, knew how much those with it suffer, and knew to take it more seriously, according to her mother, Sherill Rose Hill.
Nightmare begins
In school, Kristi was very outgoing. After graduating from Northwestern High School, she was a workaholic, said Sherill. Kristi worked several jobs and loved it. She always loved art, especially photography. But at the age of 17, she was already having medical problems.
“Kristi had really bad pains in her abdomen during her periods,” Sherill said. “It wasn’t your typical cramps. It was abnormal. I took her to a couple of doctors. They all said, ‘She’s a teenager trying to get attention.’ That wasn’t Kristi at all. I ended up taking her to Indianapolis to Dr. David McLaughlin of Women’s Specialty Health Centers. He said, ‘I think I know what’s wrong.’ He did a laparoscopy on Feb. 12, 1997. He said she had endometriosis. She was so thrilled to know what was going on because everybody had said she was making it up. She knew she wasn’t.”
Endometriosis “occurs when tissue like that which lines the uterus (tissue called the endometrium) is found outside the uterus – usually in the abdomen on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and ligaments that support the uterus; the area between the vagina and rectum; the outer surface of the uterus; and the lining of the pelvic cavity,” according to the Endometriosis Association.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, symptoms of endometriosis can include but are not limited to the following:
•extremely painful (or disabling) menstrual cramps; pain may get worse over time
•chronic pelvic pain (includes lower back pain and pelvic pain)
•pain during or after sex
•intestinal pain
•painful bowel movements or painful urination during menstrual periods
•heavy menstrual periods
•premenstrual spotting or bleeding between periods
•infertility
A few months later, Kristi had a microlaser laparotomy to vaporize the endometriosis.
For the first time in years, she felt better. The pain was gone. She was happy. So was Sherill. It’s excruciating to watch your child in such pain, Kristi’s mom said.
But then the endometriosis came back.
“The most recent studies have shown that endometriosis recurs at a rate of 20 to 40 percent within five years following surgery,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Kristi’s came back in less than a year. She had another surgery to vaporize more of the tissue. It returned again.
In October 2000, Kristi and Sherill flew to Oregon to see a specialist. That doctor performed an oophorectomy, removing her left ovary. They found out that her fallopian tubes were packed with eggs. The endometriosis had prevented them from dropping down to the uterus monthly. Some would ask why Kristi didn’t have a hysterectomy. Doctors were hesitant to do that considering how young she was, Sherill said.
Besides, a hysterectomy is not a cure. Currently, there is no cure for endometriosis. Even having a hysterectomy or removing the ovaries does not guarantee that the endometriosis areas and/or the symptoms of endometriosis will not come back.
After the surgery in Oregon, Kristi was still in pain. “That was a big let down,” Sherill said. “We thought it would be great. We thought it’d be all over.”
Kristi was in constant pain. Her mom searched the Internet trying to find someone who could help. In 2003, Kristi and Sherill headed to Birmingham, Ala., to see a specialist at the Chronic Pelvic Pain Treatment Center.
“When we drove there, we had big hopes,” Sherill said. “By the time we walked out of there, they’d diagnosed her with five different problems – all related to endometriosis.”
Severe pelvic congestive syndrome, vulvar vestibulitis, pelvic floor myalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and abdominal wall trigger points.
Kristi also suffered from severe interstitial fibrosis of the bladder with chronic interstitial cystitis, a condition that results in recurring discomfort or pain in the bladder and the surrounding pelvic region.
The autopsy report gives a glimpse of just have pervasive the endometriosis was in Kristi’s body. It was on her liver. It was on her bowels. It was on her right kidney. Her right ovary had multiple cysts with large “chocolate cysts” (cysts that form when endometrial tissue invades an ovary), including one that had ruptured right before her death. Her fallopian tubes and right ovary had adhered to her uterus and pelvic wall. There were multiple fibrous pelvic adhesions.
“The doctor who did the autopsy said she had more endometriosis than anyone he’d ever seen,” Sherill said.
To say she was in pain is an understatement.
Kristi gave up. She was tired of doctors. She was tired of hospitals. She was tired of the pain.
In 2006, Sherill’s husband, Kristi’s stepfather, Mike Hill, developed cancer. Sherill was torn between helping her daughter who was suffering and her husband who was suffering.
“I told her, ‘We’re going to find something for you,’ ” Sherill said. She pleaded with her daughter to hang in there until they found someone who could help. By then Kristi had no insurance. Her mom and stepdad helped pay for her medical expenses. Kristi hated that. She was independent. She wanted to take care of herself.
On April 16, 2009, Mike Hill died.
“Kristi said, ‘Look at him. He’s at peace. I would love to be at peace,” Sherill said.
She began to worry about her daughter. She was sinking deeper and deeper into depression. A letter Kristi wrote on April 4 details her thoughts: “I am so tired of the pain. It is enough to drive someone crazy. Having constant pain all the time is enough to want to give up. Enough to want to put my fragile body to rest. My body can’t take any more. My brain is past the breaking point. My heart is broken. God, my heart is broken.”
“She was having grand mal seizures and pretty much bed-ridden then,” Sherill said of her daughter. “I got an uneasy feeling,” Sherill said. “So I hid the gun we kept in the house. Three days prior to her dying, she said, ‘I don’t want this anymore. They can’t fix me.’ I begged her. I said, ‘Please, let me see what I can find out. We’ll find something. She said no. ‘You’re not going to take me to another doctor, who will just take your money and say, ‘Well, we don’t know what else to do for her.’ ”
On May 7, 2009, Sherill was on her way home from a short trip to Kentucky and called her daughter.
“I told her I was almost home,” Sherill said, tears flowing down her cheeks. “She said, ‘I want you to remember one thing.’ I said, ‘What?’ She said, ‘I love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very much, Mom, and she just kept saying it. And I said I love you very, very, very much, too.’ ”
As Sherill drove home, Kristi searched the house and found the gun. She went outside to the back yard. She put the gun to her head. She pulled the trigger.
“When I got home, the police were in the yard,” Sherill said, sobbing. “I couldn’t pull into the driveway. My son, Tom, was there. I have another son, Michael. Tom had been in the house, and the neighbors came and got him. They said, ‘Your sister’s lying in the backyard.’ My son went out and got her. That’s just been very hard for him. He said, ‘I held her and she wasn’t talking.’ He said he kept thinking, ‘I gotta get this fixed before mom gets home.’ When I pulled up in the yard, as soon as I got out of the car, Tom grabbed a hold of me so tightly I could hardly breathe. He said, ‘Kristi shot herself.’ He held me so tight and he wouldn’t let go. I said, ‘Is she alive?’ He said, ‘Yes. They’re trying to get her stable.’ They wouldn’t let me go to the back yard. It seemed like forever and then they brought her to the front and put her in the ambulance. I yelled at her to fight like hell, and then we were on our way to the hospital. It wasn’t very long before they came out and said she didn’t make it. I said, ‘Can I see her?’ They let me see her, and when I looked at her I knew it was over for her. She suffered so much pain. Pain was a daily thing. The doctors didn’t take it as seriously as they could or should have.”
There was no funeral. Kristi had always said she wanted to be cremated. “I was with her every step of the way, I wasn’t going to let her go through that by herself,” Sherill said. “I’m not going to let her down now. I went down to Greenwood where they do it. I kissed her. I talked to her and then I watched as they took care of her.”
Sherill broke down in tears.
Her daughter killed herself 20 days after her husband died. Twenty days after her daughter’s suicide, Sherill had a dream. In it, Kristi was smiling, running, happy, free.
“That’s the one thing that’s kept me going because I know she’s not in pain anymore,” Sherill said, crying. “I’m just crying for myself now. I’m just so lonely I don’t know what to do with myself. I just don’t know what to do.”
What she has done, with her from her two sons, is have a fundraiser in Kristi’s memory, with the proceeds going to the Endometriosis Research Center.
“I wanted to help somebody else,” Sherill said. “So no one else has to live that way. I just want everybody to know how much pain she went through, how much she suffered, so this doesn’t happen to anybody else.”
To contact Sherill about the fundraiser, send an e-mail to endokristi [at] yahoo [dot] com
About Endometriosis
About Endometriosis
By Lone Hummelshoj | June 02, 2010
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We've just finished a month dedicated to women and mothers. In the U.S., we celebrated "National Women's Health Week" and before it Mother's Day. One study suggested Americans would spend a total of $14.6 billion in May alone to honor our mothers. And we should honor our mothers!
However, for millions of women with endometriosis, motherhood is elusive. In fact, an estimated 7.5 million women in the U.S. -- one in 10 -- are affected by endometriosis during their reproductive years.
Since endometriosis is one of the biggest causes of infertility, too many women will never experience the joy of motherhood -- and for them "Mother's Day" becomes a day of grieving for the children they never had.
It doesn't stop there. The chronic pelvic pain that so many women also experience -- every single day -- is limiting. Unfortunately, all of today's treatments have some degree of side effects and there is no known cure.
An average diagnostic delay of eight years, coupled with "hit and miss" treatments, has put the estimated cost of endometriosis to society at $22 billion a year. That is higher than the cost of migraine and Crohn's disease.
Furthermore, that amount does not account for a woman's personal costs, nor indirect costs such as not being able to go to work or school, or being less productive while there.
Yet there is a lack of funding for research into the underlying mechanisms of the disease -- research that could help us find a cure or even well-tolerated long-term treatments.
I worry that mismanagement in endometriosis is costing national healthcare systems billions of dollars unnecessarily. Dollars that could be spent more wisely in developing early and effective treatments -- with significant savings down the line. But my concern is not about healthcare systems alone.
I am concerned about the large proportion of women with endometriosis who have to take time off work every month either because of severe symptoms or because of doctors' appointments and treatment regimes.
I am concerned about the women with endometriosis who report reduced productivity at school and at work because of their painful symptoms.
These circumstances have a profound effect on society, but most certainly also on the women themselves, whose personal cost -- both financially and emotionally -- is substantial. The effect on relationships, especially when fertility becomes an issue, must not be underestimated either.
For decades I have advocated around the world to get endometriosis and its impact recognized, speaking to legislative leaders and at conferences. Just two weeks ago, I addressed these issues in New York City at the Endometriosis Foundation of America's first medical and scientific conference.
The attention at the meeting was great.
But we need a great deal more than medical conferences.
We need to collectively urge our governments to fund research that will significantly enhance awareness, reduce time to diagnosis, improve treatments, and ultimately find a cure for endometriosis.
Otherwise, this devastating illness will continue to rob millions of women of their quality of life during what should be the most active and productive time of their lives -- those precious years when they should be finishing their education, commencing a career, building relationships, and having children -- something too many will never experience!
I believe we have finally begun the kind of research that is needed to move forward.
As Chief Executive of the World Endometriosis Research Foundation (WERF), I have been working for the past year with 12 centers in 10 countries (including the U.S.) on the first-ever prospective study to assess the hidden costs of endometriosis (direct and indirect) to society and to women with the disease.
The EndoCost study has a goal to identify areas that can be addressed for improvement and subsequent reduction in cost from endometriosis, and we expect to publish our findings during the second half of 2010.
We hope the results will spur national governments to take endometriosis seriously and invest in research to prevent the next generation of women from having to suffer during the prime of their lives the way this generation has!
By Lone Hummelshoj | June 02, 2010
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We've just finished a month dedicated to women and mothers. In the U.S., we celebrated "National Women's Health Week" and before it Mother's Day. One study suggested Americans would spend a total of $14.6 billion in May alone to honor our mothers. And we should honor our mothers!
However, for millions of women with endometriosis, motherhood is elusive. In fact, an estimated 7.5 million women in the U.S. -- one in 10 -- are affected by endometriosis during their reproductive years.
Since endometriosis is one of the biggest causes of infertility, too many women will never experience the joy of motherhood -- and for them "Mother's Day" becomes a day of grieving for the children they never had.
It doesn't stop there. The chronic pelvic pain that so many women also experience -- every single day -- is limiting. Unfortunately, all of today's treatments have some degree of side effects and there is no known cure.
An average diagnostic delay of eight years, coupled with "hit and miss" treatments, has put the estimated cost of endometriosis to society at $22 billion a year. That is higher than the cost of migraine and Crohn's disease.
Furthermore, that amount does not account for a woman's personal costs, nor indirect costs such as not being able to go to work or school, or being less productive while there.
Yet there is a lack of funding for research into the underlying mechanisms of the disease -- research that could help us find a cure or even well-tolerated long-term treatments.
I worry that mismanagement in endometriosis is costing national healthcare systems billions of dollars unnecessarily. Dollars that could be spent more wisely in developing early and effective treatments -- with significant savings down the line. But my concern is not about healthcare systems alone.
I am concerned about the large proportion of women with endometriosis who have to take time off work every month either because of severe symptoms or because of doctors' appointments and treatment regimes.
I am concerned about the women with endometriosis who report reduced productivity at school and at work because of their painful symptoms.
These circumstances have a profound effect on society, but most certainly also on the women themselves, whose personal cost -- both financially and emotionally -- is substantial. The effect on relationships, especially when fertility becomes an issue, must not be underestimated either.
For decades I have advocated around the world to get endometriosis and its impact recognized, speaking to legislative leaders and at conferences. Just two weeks ago, I addressed these issues in New York City at the Endometriosis Foundation of America's first medical and scientific conference.
The attention at the meeting was great.
But we need a great deal more than medical conferences.
We need to collectively urge our governments to fund research that will significantly enhance awareness, reduce time to diagnosis, improve treatments, and ultimately find a cure for endometriosis.
Otherwise, this devastating illness will continue to rob millions of women of their quality of life during what should be the most active and productive time of their lives -- those precious years when they should be finishing their education, commencing a career, building relationships, and having children -- something too many will never experience!
I believe we have finally begun the kind of research that is needed to move forward.
As Chief Executive of the World Endometriosis Research Foundation (WERF), I have been working for the past year with 12 centers in 10 countries (including the U.S.) on the first-ever prospective study to assess the hidden costs of endometriosis (direct and indirect) to society and to women with the disease.
The EndoCost study has a goal to identify areas that can be addressed for improvement and subsequent reduction in cost from endometriosis, and we expect to publish our findings during the second half of 2010.
We hope the results will spur national governments to take endometriosis seriously and invest in research to prevent the next generation of women from having to suffer during the prime of their lives the way this generation has!
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