Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Hello Endo Fundraiser

Please visit My Fundraising Page to donate to my Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain non-profit, "Women's Pelvic Pain Foundation."

I am in the beginning stages of getting the foundation established and need your help.

I believe that all of the awareness and research that other organizations are doing is great, but I am seeking a different approach.

My goal is to help women suffering from pelvic disorders (Endometriosis, IC, etc) financially. Whether or not you have insurance, there are other expenses related to our medical care.

We should not have to worry about missing work, paying rent or mortgage, etc while recovering from surgeries or during our "bad days." 

We also should not ignore the women without insurance who are suffering because they do not have the thousands of dollars needed for medication and surgeries.

Help me to help you.

My goal is $7,500 and would love to meet that goal!

Please donate here. Your donations WILL go to a women suffering.

I will make every attempt to blog about donations that have went to help others (with the respect of an individual's privacy, of course).

xo Heather

 

Non-Profit

As some of you may know, I am in the beginning stages of starting a non-profit organization. 

The non-profit will be for women who are currently suffering from endometriosis.

I am in the process of getting the paper work completed, consulting with possible non-profit lawyers, and getting a website established for donations.

I can tell you the the non-profit will focus on the lives of women who are currently suffering from the disease. As far as any other specifics, I am going to keep that private for the moment. 

I am needing your help in brainstorming names for the non-profit. I would appreciate any ideas you may have!

Let me know!

P.S. Don't forget that tomorrow is the last day for the EndoFemm drawing! Make sure you sign up!

xo Heather

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Last Wish for Char

CHARLOTTE & CHASITY

Chasity, one of our Endo Sisters needs your help!
 
Her sister, Charlotte Eitel is currently on Hospice and battling cancer. Their family is seeking financial help regarding funeral expenses. Charlotte is a single mother and is on a fixed income, so your support is greatly needed and appreciated!

Please help to make Charlotte's final wishes possible. Click here to learn more about Charlotte and to donate. 
 
Also, you can follow Chasity on Twitter.

Thank you ahead of time for your donation!

xo Heather

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

EndoFemm® Giveaway




Pelvic Pain Solutions offers many different products to aid those of us who live with pelvic disorders! I recently heard of the EndoFEMM® pads from an Endo Sister and thought they were amazing! When the lovely Babette of Pelvic Pain Solutions decided to involve Hello Endo in a giveaway, I was beyond ecstatic!

If you are interested in participating in Hello Endo’s first giveaway, here are the rules (U.S. only):


  • Tweet the following: @HelloEndoBlog @EndoFEMM I just entered the EndoFEMM Giveaway! #endo #endometriosis

That’s all it takes! The winner will be chosen at random on 02-28-13. 


Also, Pelvic Pain Solutions is running a President’s Day sale until February 22! Use code PRES10 at checkout for 10% off regular priced merchandise!

In addition, all returning customers receive a special discount code to receive 15% off all merchandise for as long as they are a customer.

Be sure to check out all of the great Pelvic Pain Solutions products!!
xo Heather

Returning to Work

I am in talks with my doctor and work about returning soon. Since staying home without health benefits is not going to help my situation, I am going to try to tough it out.

There's not really much to report right now because I haven't gotten an official date that I will be returning. 

Photo Credit: Joe-KS

In other news, my parents are going to be in Las Vegas next week. I am planning on going to visit them, or they will drive into Phoenix.

I would rather go to Vegas, but it's very hard for me to sit for long periods of time and frequent bathroom stops. Besides that, I really do not think I am up for all of the walking.

When my family came to visit at the end of October/beginning of November, we went to Vegas, Lake Havasu, and different spots in and around Phoenix. They left two days before my laparoscopy, so I over did it. I really don't want that to happen again.

How do you handle traveling? 

xo Heather

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Health Insurance

Today is my final day of Health Insurance & other benefits. 

Since I am unable to work due to my current health and pain, I have been struggling to cover the $266 insurance premiums every two weeks. 

I can no longer afford to pay the premiums.

I am between a rock and a hard place because I obviously cannot improve my health if I am without insurance.

I am stressed to the max, but I finally gave in and am in the process of filing for Social Security Disability until I can improve.

In case you didn't know, Endo sucks. IC sucks.

xo Heather

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Michelle Obama Project


Photo Credit: White House
Endo Happy and I have came up with an idea to contact Michelle Obama explaining Endometriosis in hopes that she will create a PSA for Endo Awareness Month in March.
 
We are asking for your help. We are hoping to send 100 letters to the First Lady by March 1st, 2013.

If you would like to be involved, here are the guidelines:


  • Name
  • Age
  • Location
  • Brief Details of you Endo Story
  • Why Endo Awareness is important to you
  • 500 word limit

 If you decide to type a letter to Michelle Obama, please e-mail your letter to HelloEndoBlog@gmail.com.
xo Heather & Endo Happy 

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Endo Happy: Share the Love!

Although no introduction is needed, here is another fantastic guest blog post from the lovely Katie, the Founder of Endo Happy:

Photo Credit: Endo Happy

So it's nearly Valentines Day, a holiday that despite being single I really enjoy. I love seeing all the love hearts everywhere and it's something fun to plan for after a long January. Every year I send a card to my friends children, they are just simply 'For my Valentine' and inside say Happy Valentines Day, and I know that they love getting them! I grew up with always getting a card from my grandparents and/or parents so although I don't have my own children I want to continue the tradition and share the love! It's also fun to take or even make some treats to take into your colleagues at work, maybe a few chocolate hearts or spoil your best friend with a surprise gift.

But most of all the person you should share the love with is yourself, make this year the one that you choose to accept yourself and all your 'flaws & imperfections' and acknowledge that you are good enough and most likely loved and adored by many people.

Loving yourself is mostly about having self-respect, for which the following may help:

Stop comparing yourself to others, although other peoples lives may look better than yours the chances are they are envying you in some way too. Focus on your own strengths, and when you realise what they are share them with the world!

Be yourself, if you love to wear pink leg warmers while listening to mozart eating snails then do it! Don't worry about what other people are thinking, most people are actually just worrying about themselves.

Be your own best friend:) Endosisters are all so caring, helpful and kind so give that good advice to yourself! And all those negative thoughts in your head? Stop them immediately, you wouldn't speak to your friends like that so don't do it to yourself.

Find an 'affirmation' that you find inspiring and repeat it every day and/or in times of doubt. My favourite author for these is Susan Jeffers, I would recommend her book 'feel the fear and do it anyway' to anybody, it's life changing! My favourite is 'everything is happening perfectly', it takes away the 'why is this happening' and simply tells me to trust in the greater meaning.

And lastly be kind to yourself, sleep and rest when you can, nourish your body with fresh food, fruit and vegetables, drink lots of water and try to get some weekly exercise and/or fresh air. Read your favourite books and listen to your favourite music.

I look forward to seeing you all sharing the love on 14th February xxx

                      

If you are not already doing so, please follow Endo Happy on Twitter for happiness, support, and encouragement! 

xo Heather 

Endo Journey: Michaela

The following Endo Journey post comes from Michaela, a sweet girl who has been living with Endometriosis pain for many years. Please read on to learn about Michaela's struggle:

 
It started off 4 years ago when I was diagnosed with a dermoid cyst. The first operation was to drain the cyst but was still having excruciating pains. Countless blood tests and scans just showed the cyst had returned. Eventually, after being on so many types of pain killers, my consultant decided to try me on something else. A Prostap injection once a month to see if the pain was gynaecological. 

Six months down the line, pain free so they decided the best option was to remove right ovary and fallopian tube. This was in 2011. And during the surgery, they discovered I had endometriosis. And it was a lightbulb moment. 

All those months of pain and not knowing why was finally answered. April 2012, pain started again but it wasn't as severe so I just put up with it. It started to get worse in November and by January, my GP referred me back to gynae. Had appointment 5th Feb this year and found out that I still had endo and it was by the urethra, plus I also have adhesions. 

So on April 19, I'm having a laparoscopy to remove endo and adhesion and having the Mirena coil fitted. If this doesn't work, then the gynaecologist said he will look into me having a hysterectomy.

                            

Special thanks to Michaela for sharing her story. I hope that your laparoscopy in April helps tremendously! 

If you have a story to share, please contact me. I would be honored to share your life with endometriosis!

xo Heather  

Monday, February 4, 2013

"Do I Look Sick?" Blogging Contest

Some of you may follow Rachel Meeks of "Do I Look Sick" on her twitter or blog. I recently made an Invisible Illness Meme for her blog in a contest designed to raise awareness on Invisible Illnesses! Some of you may also know that I won third place in the contest!

Here is the meme I designed:

 
What do you think? I hope you like it! 

Also, make sure to subscribe to the "Do I Look Sick?" blog and follow the lovely Rachel on Twitter!

xo Heather 

Endo Happy: Validate Yourself


Most sufferers of Endometriosis face so much on a daily basis that we often start to accept the pain and emotions as a part of our daily life. But when you're having a bad day I find it helpful to validate the feelings I'm having, this is not feeling sorry for yourself it's acknowledging what difficulties you have had to overcome to make it through the day.
 
 The next time you're going through a difficult time make a mental list of what you're having to overcome, maybe it's pain that meds will not get rid of, tired from another sleepless night, worrying about money problems, unpleasant side affects from hormone treatments etc and take a few minutes to see why you're having such difficult time sometimes often doing the simplest things like physically getting out of bed when you're in pain.

It's easy to feel like you're getting nowhere, I have always felt like my life just went round in circles but when facing my most recent surgery I had an 'AHA' moment and realized how was I of supposed to achieve all the things I wanted to when so much of my life comprised of pain, surgery and unpaid recovery absence from work. I had however achieved things that I didn't give myself credit for and now that I am post op I can see that getting out of bed and going to work while in so much pain was an achievement in itself!

So the next time you are being hard on yourself acknowledge the daily challenges you face and simply say 'I am imperfect, I'm doing my best and I am enough!"

                                             

Special thanks to Katie,  founder of Endo Happy for another great post! If you are not already doing so, please follow & connect with @_EndoHappy on Twitter!!

xo Heather 

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Surgery #2 Post-Op

Surgery #2, my first hydrodistension went well. I was out of surgery and in the recovery room by 8am. After surgery, my surgeon advised the nurses that I could not go home until I was able to urinate 200cc. 

Between 8am and 8:30am, I was given two cups of apple juice and sent to the restroom. I tried to use relieve myself, but just saw a lot of blood in the measuring container. I was also told that I was not allowed to "push" while in the bathroom, so I called the nurse in and she told me that she would give me another IV fluid bag. I went back to my hospital bed and fell asleep after leaving the restroom. 

Around 11:30 am, the nurse woke me up and told me that I would need to try to empty my bladder again. So she helped me into the bathroom, and shut the door behind me. I still was unable to urinate after 2 glasses of apple juice and 3 bags of IV fluids. So, I was told that I would have to have a catheter inserted and would be able to have it removed the following day.

After the catheter was painfully inserted, I still only measured 100cc of urine. I was given the discharge papers and catheter care instructions, then wheel-chaired to our vehicle and the hubs drove me home. I spent the entire day Thursday sleeping and napping.

Friday morning, I woke up to call my surgeon to ask if I could come in to have the catheter removed. However, I was given bad news and told that I would have to wait until my bladder had more time to heal. So at 9am, on Monday morning I will finally be able to have this stupid catheter removed.

As far as if the hydrodistension has helped my IC symptoms or not, I am still not sure. If I were to answer now, I would say no. I just feel that since it is only 2 days after my surgery it is too soon to give a definitive answer.

I am still playing the waiting game.

Have you had a hydrodistension for IC relief? Did it help? 

xo Heather

P.S. If the hydrodistension has not helped, I will have another laparoscopy sooner than originally expected (2 months from now).



 
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