April is Adenomyosis Awareness Month

April is Adenomyosis Awareness Month: 
𝙏𝙝𝙚 "𝙅𝙤𝙠𝙚" 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙒𝙖𝙨𝙣’𝙩 (𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙩 1) 🎗️ 
Three years ago, I stepped into a doctor’s office for the first time in seven years, looking for answers. What I got instead felt like a bad joke. At 47, I was told "everything looks normal." 
The suggestions? Birth control or maybe an ultrasound—but never a "let’s actually dive deep into your hormones or your pain." I had to be my own advocate, requesting my own blood work and chasing down results. 
When the ultrasound finally happened, my chart read "normal." But my body was screaming. I remember being doubled over in pain, messaging a doctor who didn't message back, pleading: "Can you please recommend someone who can find me answers?" 

The "Bandaid" Phase: I went to the next specialist ready to hear, "I've seen this before." Instead, I heard: "Try an IUD." "Try an ablation (but that’s extreme)." And the kicker: When I said I’d rather not just mask the symptoms with meds, the response was: "Then take some ibuprofen and don't complain." 😳 

I felt defeated. I watched medical bills roll in for "answers" I never received. Every month, I told myself: "It’s okay. This is normal. It could be worse." 
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙟𝙤𝙠𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙚. 𝙄𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚. 𝙈𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙝𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙄 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙄 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙧 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣. 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙮𝙚𝙩 𝙄 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩, 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 "𝘽𝙞𝙜 𝙂𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙋𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨" 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮—𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙗𝙮 𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧. 𝙄 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣'𝙩. 
(To be continued: The last 6 months and the path to finally being heard...)