We're hard

In this open and candid chat, we discuss topics spanning from 'dry January' and social drinking to a deeply personal story of dealing with endometriosis. Find out about the life-changing surgery that led to a nearly pain-free life, and learn more about what endometriosis actually entails for those living with it.

Transcript

Track 1 0:24

Welcome to,

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 0:25

My place are yours.

Track 1 0:27

how are You?

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 0:29

I am good. I'm good. Getting into the full swing of things. I did not, um, I'm not participating in dry January, so, um,

Track 1 0:38

Same.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 0:39

That's normally the people I've been talking to this month, they're like, oh, dry January is killing me. Or Oh, uh, I'm trying to be dry this whole month, but I've already messed up twice, but back on the, back on the wagon. And I'm like, you know, that is not the stress I need in my life is to, you know, dry about anything. I already have a dry sense of humor. That's the only thing I have left. That's the only thing I'm gonna be dry about.

Track 1 1:03

I can't, I can't have anything else dry. The sense of humor's too dry.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 1:07

Not one other thing in my life. Do I want to be dry actually. And, the, the pressure now I know that it's like a cool thing right now to be sober and, and, and sober curious and, and all the, all the Instagrams and tiktoks that, you know, you see, I don't see the tiktoks. But I think that it's great and I think that it's great for people. I'm not there yet.

Track 1 1:29

Um.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 1:30

sober. Curious, I, I have been sober twice in my life for 10 months I don't, I'm not ready for that. Maybe I will be at one point. It's not my time. It's not now.

Track 1 1:41

It's not your time to shine right now.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 1:43

No.

Track 1 1:44

You know, I am. I am such a, a social drinker. I don't, I don't pour a glass of wine like when I get home from work or whatever, but when I do it. Boy, howdy do I do, do I do it? You know, so I just like, like I drink Saturday night and I don't feel, I feel fuzzy today. Not like sick or anything, but I think this is why I don't have a glass of wine after work. 'cause it really does make me feel lethargic for a couple of days afterwards. So I don't know if that makes me sober. Curious. I truly only enjoy drinking in a social setting though.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 2:31

Yeah. Yeah. No, it definitely, um, I don't know. It, it does mess you up. I mean, it's, it's legit poison.

Track 1 2:38

Yeah,

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 2:38

that we drink. I mean, there's no doubt about it. I'm not, I'm not sitting here think saying that the, glass of wine or the, or the high noons, um, or anything is good for me

Track 1 2:49

right.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 2:50

or good for anyone, but it's just not something I'm willing to part with at this time.

Track 1 2:55

Sure. And that is okay if that is

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 2:59

in the healthiest way.

Track 1 3:00

right? Yeah, exactly. I have seen a lot of people dry January. Dry January and it up. Um, and also a lot of people that are doing 75 hard or like a 30 day version of 75 hard, and as part of that they're not drinking. And, um. That is actually the easiest part of the 75 hard, the hardest part of the 75 hard is you have to work out twice a day and one of

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 3:27

outside.

Track 1 3:28

one of them outside this time of year would be the only time of year you could do that in Florida.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 3:34

Yeah, I don't, yeah, I mean, I've, I've attempted, I've never completed a 75 hard, I have attempted.

Track 1 3:40

Same.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 3:41

and the, the 70 or the 30 hard seems, you know, like when you just said that, I was like, oh, okay, well that seems more doable. I mean, obviously it's less than half the time, but, um. Yeah, the, the not drinking is the, one of the easier parts of all of those things. But yeah, if

Track 1 4:00

Yep.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 4:00

that, you're doing dry, whatever,

Track 1 4:02

We're proud of you.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 4:04

go, you and we are supporting you from afar.

Track 1 4:08

We are so we're not haters. That's one thing. You know, we are not trying to do 75 hard, but we're not the ones that will shit on you for doing it. I am so proud of everyone that's doing it, and I admire your strength and willpower and godspeed.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 4:24

Yes. And even if, let's say I was doing 75 hard and someone else is saying no, they're, they're the me in the, they're the me in the, in the conversation saying, no, it's just not my time right now. I'm in my Big Mac era. I'm, I'm trying to, trying to, you know. Do other things in my life, you know, not, not necessarily about 75, hard or dry January, but I'm trying to more peacefully in other areas. You know what? Go, you too.

Track 1 4:52

Yeah.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 4:52

there's no whatever. If you have a good reason, a, a reasonably good reason make sense, that's not harming yourself or others,

Track 1 5:04

Go you.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 5:05

then do it.

Track 1 5:06

Well, I kind of said this on a previous episode, but I had a really. Rough couple of years through the pandemic. I mean, I worked in medical sales and, and ouch. And orthopedic medical sales at that, which was considered elective. So it was pretty brutal. And I was planning a wedding and I kept losing jobs and Frankie was in nursing school and finances were hard and everything was hard. And, um. We were newlyweds and we had just bought a house and we had people living with us and like it was just all these things and I could not focus on my health. It was enough to get up every morning and be a productive member of society. I didn't have it in me to also eat right and work out and all the things, and I got my life in a place that I feel so much more peaceful now. Like you just said that now. I'm like kind of interested in getting my, my health and my body back into a better place, but I just know that the me of two years ago, if I, if the me now tried to talk to the me of two years ago and explain this, the me of two years ago would've been like, I, you need to get outta my face. I'm keeping my head above water and barely, I need, like, that's all I could do. The best I could do was the bare minimum, but now I have more peace and I have more, uh, wherewithal and, and mental capacity to focus on these other things. So,

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 6:44

right. And, you know, that's valuable. Peace is something that you can't, these intangible things are so important that you never know they're important until you don't have it, or

Track 1 6:55

yeah.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 6:55

about how, how much more you could have or, or whatever.

Track 1 6:58

Yeah.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 6:59

but no one, you know. No one's journey is yours. And, uh, there's no wrong to go about things. You just have to do whatever you can do in the mental space that you have to do it, and, and feel good about that. Feel good about what you did in that day, week, month, year. You were doing your best, whatever it was. As long as it's your best, you were doing it. Feel proud about it.

Track 1 7:25

Yeah, exactly. And I do look back now and wish that I did more, but I, I truly know in my heart of hearts, I, I did what I could. I, I had nothing else, um, to give to anyone or myself at that time. And so. I worked really hard to achieve that piece and now I have extra mental space to focus on a workout program, which I am doing, you know? So it just is what it is. It depends on the season you're in, but that was not what we wanted to talk about today.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 7:58

Not at all. Here we are.

Track 1 8:00

I don't know.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 8:00

happens.

Track 1 8:01

Yeah. I don't know why even that just came up. So we thought it would be interesting to, you know, we'll talk more and more about ourselves and hopefully, you know, you guys get to know us better, but. Something that is a big part of my story is endometriosis, and we thought it might be kind of interesting to do an episode on it because it is becoming more talked about now, like being sober curious. Um, you hear about endometriosis, but I still don't think a lot of people know what it is. So,

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 8:34

Well, I had heard of it and then, but never really like when you first told me about it, like you, you know, years ago, um, it was something that. I've learned a lot through you, and I think that a lot of people, um, kind of the story is that they learn about some, they learn about endometriosis or they, um, know about it because of a friend of a friend or a family member or something that goes through it, that you never really have to know about it until someone close to you it, you know?

Track 1 9:03

Yeah, exactly, and, and obviously I didn't know what it was. I just knew from the time I was like 11 years old, I would get my cycle every month and would be in. Such excruciating pain. It's hard for me to describe and, and I am not a, I have a high pain tolerance. Like I broke my arm and had to go to the office at school and say, Hey, can I call my mom? I think I broke my arm and my arm's like hanging there, you know?

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 9:29

Right.

Track 1 9:29

Um. This would put me down, like I'm talking, I would vomit, I would pass out. I would like, I would just be in so much pain. I would lose consciousness, which I don't know if is the body's coping mechanism or what, but I've passed out so many times just from pain. Um, and so. You know, my mom took me to all these gynecologists starting when I was 11 years old, and the story was, I think by the time I was 18 I had seen like 15 gynecologists. So I was going probably twice a year, and she would take me to all these different places and I would get, you know, they would do an exam, which like I had my first pap smear at 11, which was. Really, really traumatizing. And I remember my mom felt so bad, but like, what do you do? They thought something was so wrong and I, she took me afterwards, like I was in tears. She was in tears. She took me to Paxon and I got to pick out like five shirts, which was a really big deal. Paxon was so expensive.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 10:37

Yeah, it was.

Track 1 10:38

So anyways, but the, the doctors, they would just say, they would sit me down and, and they would say, okay, you know, here's the deal. Everyone has period cramps. Everyone, everyone gets cramps and you've gotta just. Take ibuprofen and and whatever. And if I was lucky, I would get a doctor's note, but a lot of them thought I was trying to get outta school or thought that I was attention seeking or I don't know what, or just had a really low pain tolerance and I. My mom was always like, this kid is not weak. You know? And, and also she doesn't wanna miss school. She's a good student, you know, that's not it. But they just, I was dismissed so many times and ultimately what happened was when I was 18, uh, I was in a car accident and it was a really bad car accident, and I got a CT scan done of my spine because my. They were concerned that, you know, my neck or low, low back had been injured. 'cause that's what happens in car accidents. And my spine was completely fine, but they were like, uh, from the low, the CT of the low back, they could see something in my abdomen.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 11:56

Uh, pause for a second. Is this the car accident where you There was a spider in the car.

Track 1 12:01

No. Oh my god, no. This was, this was a really bad car accident. Some lady.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 12:07

one I thought was bad too.

Track 1 12:09

No, that was not bad at all. Only my car was hurt. I was not hurt, but this one I had, so my little sister had. It's so funny how things happen in life. My Emily had had fallen at school and sliced her knee open really bad, so my dad had to pick her up and take her to his office and stitch her knee up and then. She's sitting at his office all day and I was just back from my first year at college. Just got home for summer and so they were like, Hey, can you come get her? You know, it's, it's one o'clock. He doesn't leave till five, and here she is with her stitched up knee. So I went and got her and my other two siblings and was on my way home with them. So they were in the car with me

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 12:52

Mm-Hmm.

Track 1 12:53

some, we were on a pretty fast road and some lady just blew a, a like red light or stop sign or whatever, and right in front of us and I t-boned her. But it was her fault. She came out in front of me, but I t-boned her. So the front of my car was totally like crushed in and the car was totaled and it was a brand new car I had just gotten for graduating high school. And anyways, so on this CT scan they, they said they can see something in my abdomen that looked suspicious and then separate from the car accident, they wanted to check out my abdomen. So I think they ordered an MRI of my abdomen. On that, they saw a tumor on one of my ovaries and they, apparently, this is what they were able to see from the CT scan of the spine, which is just the craziest, it's, it's called an incidental finding. They didn't mean to find this.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 13:51

Mm-Hmm.

Track 1 13:52

So we lived in a small town and the OB, GYN and the small town's like, well, this tumor's really big. It's taking over your ovary. We gotta take your ovary out. I'm 18 years old, and my mom was like, uh, that's not happening. So we went to Orlando and we went to this guy who was a, let me get this right. He was a gynecologic oncologist. So he operated on pregnant women and like would remove tumors off of babies in utero.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 14:23

Yes.

Track 1 14:24

very crazy precise stuff. And he looked at my ovary and was like, oh, no problem. I'll save your ovary. This is, this is light work. So thank God. So he ended up operating on me and when I woke up from surgery, he. Saved my ovary, which was great, and said, Hey, uh, while I was in there, another incidental finding, you've got real bad endometriosis. And, uh, I don't specialize in that. So I did the best I could and, and cauterized, which means burned it away. All the spots that I, that I saw it. Um, but yeah, just so you know, you've got endometriosis and for the first time. I think my mom had been saying that, but it was not very common to diagnose it because it can only be diagnosed surgically. You have to go in.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 15:14

back then there was no, there was no talk of it.

Track 1 15:17

There was no awareness. So it was even more rare to get a diagnosis. So, and the only still to this day, the only way to diagnose it is to go in and take a biopsy and send it to a lab. So then, and that was 10 years ago now. I was told that I would have to have surgery probably every two years, and they would go in and burn away whatever they could find. And that was the only way to keep it at bay and it would always come back. And in the meantime, I needed to be on birth control. Oh, and I had, I got put on birth control when I was like 12 because it was so outta control and that was all they knew to do to help and it didn't really help. Um, so. I continued on for the next 10 years. I did not have surgery every two years. I started researching it a lot myself. Basically what it is, what happens is the tissue that is supposed to grow inside your uterus, it's called the endometrium, grows outside your uterus, and they think that this happens because at some point during fetal development, when your uterus is forming, when all your organs are forming. Part of the uterus ends up outside the uterus and, and it's just a microscopic little amount, and it's just a total freak accident. Although they also think it's kind of a genetic thing. They, again, they still don't know, but for some reason, whatever it is, the endometrium, the inner lining of your uterus, a little bit of it is outside your uterus and then that tissue grows on your other organs. I've always said, you know that Spider-Man movie where. He, he's the, his costume is black and it's like it grows on him and like

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 17:00

Yeah.

Track 1 17:01

gets a little bit on his hand and then it grows everywhere and gets all over his body. I've always kind of pictured it like that. It gets on something and then it goes everywhere else. So I, I was doing a lot of research and there's a Facebook group called Nancy's Nook, and it is thousand tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of women at this point who all have these symptoms that contribute research studies from around the world. And, and it's all compiled in one place. And it didn't used to be so organized, but now it's super official. Um. A documentary has since been done on it. It's called Below the Belt. Um, and it's really interesting. But I found a surgeon through Nancy's Nook 'cause they have certain surgeons that are on the cutting edge of research and whatnot for endometriosis. So I found a surgeon a couple of years ago,

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 17:56

are the, I know that the surgeon you went to is in, um,

Track 1 18:00

Ja Jacksonville, Florida.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 18:01

Where are the other ones?

Track 1 18:03

Um, there, there are becoming more and more, uh, but like when I first found this Facebook group, there was one in New York, one in California, and one in Florida, and that was it in the United States. That, that did this surgery. So my fir my first surgery where they just burned it away. Come to find out, that's like the worst thing you can do because not only does it not get rid of it, 'cause it doesn't get all the way down to the root, uh, it also causes a ton of scar tissue and endometriosis also causes scar tissue. A lot of women with endometriosis end up not being able to have children and stuff because they're just totally scarred over all of their reproductive organs. And that maybe could've, could've happened to me if I would've continued to have this surgery. So I. What this surgeon in Jacksonville, Florida does, which their practice is called, uh, Jacksonville Center for Reproductive Medicine. And the doctor I went to, his name is, uh, Dr. Lipari, L-I-P-A-R-I, and I can't recommend him enough. I, I keep saying to Sierra, I know this sounds so funny, but he changed my life. I mean, my life has changed dramatically since I had this second procedure, so. What they do, it's called excision surgery. And instead of just burning the surface of the lesions, they treat it like cancer and they cut around every single lesion and like test the margins and make sure they get clean margins and there's no more of these cells. Um, or, or they'll keep cutting. And so April of this year, I had that surgery done. And it was crazy, like I had to prove that I had already been surgically diagnosed in order to go to this clinic. Like they only will touch you if you have already been diagnosed so. I had this surgery done and they cut away all the lesions, which helps with the pain of course. And supposedly if they truly get clean margins, it's not supposed to come back like, like it's a, it's a cure. But the other thing that they did, which is, so this is what I think has changed my life.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 20:25

Yeah.

Track 1 20:25

had a presacral Neurectomy done, so they removed the nerve. That connects your uterus to your brain, that sends pain signals from your uterus to your brain. They completely removed it. So even if I were to continue to have pain, um, it's just, I don't know. It's there. The pain signal is not reaching my brain, and it's the greatest thing ever.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 20:55

Now when, when you, when you have a child. I mean, literally you're gonna have a pain-free birth

Track 1 21:03

They told me that, no, that's not the case. Um,

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 21:09

well, because

Track 1 21:09

I,

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 21:10

is still gonna be on fire. That's not uteral pain,

Track 1 21:12

right, not a whole lot of your pain is coming from your uterus actually. 'cause the uterus stretches through the whole pregnancy and that doesn't hurt you. Um.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 21:22

it can be, I mean, yeah, so not when the actual, you're giving birth, you're, you're pushing this out. I, I think the pain is just coming from your ear lobes to your toenail everywhere.

Track 1 21:30

Well, I think the majority of the pain is like the cervix, the birth canal, and, and yeah, the, and so.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 21:37

my first thought is that, you know, hey, you've, you've blocked one of those nerves that's gotta help for something, but maybe not.

Track 1 21:43

Right. So, so what they said to me, which I'll take it, is, um, I might not feel like very early contractions. That's, that's when the uterus is involved is like the very early contractions and.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 22:01

So you might not have as much time to get to the hospital then.

Track 1 22:04

Right. Or like he said, a lot of times during the end of pregnancy, like you have Braxton Hicks or whatever, I will, I might have 'em and I'll only know I'm having 'em. 'cause I'll see my stomach actually contract, but I won't feel it. So it's that kind of stuff. He just said that, you know, towards the end of pregnancy, everyone starts to go once a week. I maybe will start to go once a week to get checked sooner than average people so that I don't accidentally miss that I'm in preterm labor or something like that. But aside from that, I'm not, I won't be considered high risk or, or anything. So I'm not mad about it. I mean that to me, I was like a no-brainer. I'll take it seven days a week. So, um. Let's see what else he told me that, uh, so when they went in, I did have a lot of scarring. He could see where I had been burned from the inside out, and I saw my surgical, surgical pictures and it, it did look like, like I, my tissue was black in a lot of places. Like it looked like had it had been cooked on a barbecue, which is really

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 23:18

Well, that's awful. But I mean, the

Track 1 23:19

horrific.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 23:21

I do believe that the first surgeon did what he thought was right.

Track 1 23:24

He did what he thought was right, and 10 years ago, cauterizing was considered the gold standard. No one knew. Knew what excision surgery was 10 years ago. So it is what it is

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 23:36

is just so crazy. The, the way that it evolves and changes. I'm not, um, all modern medicine or western medicine, but things like this, like you hear about like 10 years

Track 1 23:49

changed.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 23:50

of time, is not a lot of time really, but medicine it's just so great.

Track 1 23:56

Well, I can't think of another example where 10 years would be such a big difference. Maybe in terms of cancer research, maybe there's certain, I feel like breast cancer used to be kind of a death sentence, and now you rarely hear of it killing people. So maybe the past 10 years, breast cancer research has changed dramatically. I don't know, because it hasn't affected me so personally.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 24:19

Yeah, the only thing I thought of was, um, uh. Breast implants, how that, like implants have been a thing. Now people are realizing, know, autoimmune diseases, which, that's kind of changed in 10 years too. Um, talking about, you know, like, um, celiac and, and uh,

Track 1 24:41

Yeah.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 24:41

autoimmune diseases like that. But, um.

Track 1 24:44

Well, diabetes, uh, my brother-in-Law and my cousin are both, uh, type one diabetics, like they were diagnosed as children and that is something that I think has also come a long way in 10 years, I feel like. Not a lot of people are manually checking their sugars and injecting insulin anymore. You know, there's these really high, high tech pumps and, uh, blood sugar. You know, you stick the thing to your arm, the Dexcom, and it stays on your arm for however long a week or, or whatever, and it's giving you your blood sugar every five minutes. That is pretty incredible. So that, that's another example. Um, but. I don't know what it'll look like in the next 10 years. I used to tell you I was afraid to have daughters. This pain was so horrific that I was literally afraid of giving it to somebody

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 25:37

No, I remember you saying that,

Track 1 25:39

and.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 25:40

thinking that was just so sad, such a sad reality. I can't imagine. Like you wanna have children or, or whatever, but you don't. Something is so a burden in your life that that would be a reason to not have kids. But I understand it

Track 1 25:56

Yeah.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 25:56

I can.

Track 1 25:57

I have obviously never had kids, but I, a few people have said to me who have had, who have endometriosis and have also have had children that, um, labor was easier than the endometriosis. Um, like period, cramp pain. So I'll let you know. Um, but yeah. There. That's, that's a comparison right there. I mean, I just, there were times I was in college and like I was in the shower and, um, my roommate found me like unconscious. 'cause the pain was just so bad. I would faint. I fainted in the middle of the, like courtyard one time, uh, in college and.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 26:40

Man.

Track 1 26:40

Yeah, it's, it's, I don't know. I don't know. And I feel like I'm, I sound like a wimp when I say these things, but, um,

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 26:49

No. No. I mean, I have a low pain tolerance. Uh, you never have. I will be interested, uh, for no other reason other than science. When you, when you give birth, be like, okay, how was this? Let's compare notes.

Track 1 27:06

yeah. I, um, so since I had that nerve removed, I don't feel, I will feel some cramping. 'cause you know, when you get cramps, it, some of it's in the front, but well, um, depends on the person, but you can also get some cramps in your back.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 27:24

Mm-Hmm.

Track 1 27:25

I still will have a little bit of pain in my back, but I think it's like normal pain. I can take one Tylenol and then it, it's gone. Like it's the, um. I have been in tears in the past couple of months just because, because of the lack of pain. 'cause I'm so shocked. I don't know, I, it's hard to believe that I'm this lucky now that I don't have to feel this pain every month. I used to get so scared and anxious for my period to come 'cause I knew what I was in for.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 27:56

Well, what did the guy say? What was it that you said that, so you had the surgery in April of last year, and then as the months were going, it was like, oh, by the third or fourth month

Track 1 28:08

It'll be your new normal.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 28:10

right, you won't have any pain, or it'll be whatever. And so every single month after you're like, okay, well, you know, this kind of hurts. I don't know. I don't know. Literally, I think it was like.

Track 1 28:19

It was the third month. Yeah.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 28:21

something. Yeah. And you were like, okay,

Track 1 28:23

I feel nothing.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 28:24

has just happened. I don't wanna jinx anything but something's up.

Track 1 28:28

Yeah, so they remove the nerve. So this makes no sense to me. They remove the nerve, but he said for the first three months you will still have your regular pain. Um, because despite the fact that they remove the nerve, the brain has these. These pathways. I don't know these pathways. I asked, I said, is this gonna, is it phantom pain? I'm still feeling, and he is like, no, we severed the, we severed the pathways. But, um, it's like, it takes, it took 90 days for the nerve to fully die. Like they severed it, but it wa it wouldn't die for three months. And like you just said, quite literally. Three months went by, so month four, my fourth cycle, and I was like feeling kind of upset, thinking it didn't work.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 29:20

know you were.

Track 1 29:22

Month four, I felt nothing and have not felt anything since other than like very minor cramping in my back or whatever, which is so fine. It's normal.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 29:34

Yeah.

Track 1 29:35

It is the most miraculous thing. I can't, I mean, I think of other people. So endometriosis falls under, um, chronic pain. Like, like if you wanted to take, um, uh, short-term or long-term disability, endometriosis is one of the conditions that qualifies, that you can take it for because it's, it's so excruciating. Um. It falls under a chronic pain disorder. It, it is an autoimmune disease. Um, 'cause it's, the body's kind of attacking itself. It's this tissue where it's being, where it's not supposed to be. Um, and I totally understand why, but it is, it's jarring to go from having that to having to, it just being gone and it. It makes me wonder with other chronic pain disorders, like can they just start severing nerves? Can they start severing and removing nerves and, and

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 30:35

some. I got some that I could use. Severed.

Track 1 30:38

Right. Like people who have, I don't know, low back pain or something. Is there not a nerve they can sever? I don't, I don't understand it. I don't know why. Maybe because those are in your spine. You can't sever those, but.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 30:53

Yeah. Maybe you need them for other things, you know, like lifesaving things.

Track 1 30:57

Sure. And I guess the uterus, you know, beep it.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 31:03

I mean, if it's an organ, if it's an organ that can be removed and you still live,

Track 1 31:08

You can sever the nerve to it maybe.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 31:10

potentially that,

Track 1 31:11

Well, I,

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 31:11

maybe,

Track 1 31:12

I think of someone who has like chronic kidney stones. Could we sever the nerves to the kidneys?

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 31:17

well, no, then you're always, you're never gonna know you have a kidney stone, I

Track 1 31:20

Right.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 31:20

a kidney pain if you don't have. Maybe you could sever it to one. You, you don't need the, the one kidney.

Track 1 31:26

I mean, it's just, it's, I'm so mind blown by it. I almost,

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 31:30

It

Track 1 31:30

this is,

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 31:31

be the uterus that you can do this with.

Track 1 31:34

yes. I wish they would sever the nerves to the cervix. 'cause then really maybe you could have a pain-free birth, closer to a pain-free birth.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 31:42

That will be in another to 30 years

Track 1 31:46

Well sign me up to be the Guinea pig. I mean, I'm just gonna have to get on this guy's wait list. Hey, if you figure out any other nerves, you can sever count me in

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 31:53

Right, right. There's a couple nerves I'd like severed, like

Track 1 31:58

to your brain.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 31:59

that's what I was gonna say.

Track 1 32:00

Emotional nerves

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 32:02

I, I could use a couple of, uh, pathways to be, uh,

Track 1 32:06

turned off right. Right. So when I had this surgery, uh, like I said, they severed the nerve, they removed all the endometriosis that they could find, and they had to do a lot of cleaning up of all the scar tissue that I had from when I had been burned from the inside out. Cauterized, um, like my fallopian tubes were both, uh, completely scarred through. So if I would've gotten pregnant, he was like. You know, we can't guarantee anything. Miracles happen every day, but I would've almost certainly had ectopic pregnancies 'cause nothing could get through my fallopian tubes. Um, so he cleared those out, which is great, and cleared up all the scarring on my ovaries and my uterus and, and all this stuff. Um. It's interesting they prep you before surgery and they say if you have a lot of scarring on the uterus itself and we have to cut at your uterus every time the uterus is cut, um, it is, that spot is considered compromised and the more, that's why you're not supposed to have more than like three C-sections or something like that because you're at an increased risk for your uterus to rupture when you get pregnant and it stretches and grows all those places where they've cut it. It's, it's now weakened in that spot. So that was something they had to prep me for. I could've, if they would've had to cut my uterus a lot, I would've been like high risk. I would've had to deliver via c-section early just to make sure it never stretched too much. But they didn't have to do a whole lot to my uterus. So that was good. And um, he did tell me that if and when I do get pregnant. A lot of people, you know, you, you get a positive pregnancy test, you call the doctor and they won't have you come in until a few weeks later. You know, when it's so early there, there's not much to to do. You come in at like eight weeks or whatever.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 34:00

Yeah.

Track 1 34:01

I have to, the second I get a positive pregnancy test, I've gotta go get checked to make sure that it's in my uterus and not in one of my fallopian tubes. 'cause he did say that. The endometriosis can come back, and if it did, you know it was on my fallopian tubes previously, it probably would go there again. And although that my fallopian tubes were cleared out in April 20, 23, 2 years later, they could be completely scarred over again. So no way to really know.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 34:32

Well, yeah, that'll just be, and that'll be something that the, your OB will, you'll just tell them ahead of time or you'll have to go to Jacksonville.

Track 1 34:41

He said to tell whoever the new doctor, and if anyone ever gave me a hard time, I could always get in the car and go to Jacksonville and he would see me. So, but

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 34:51

good.

Track 1 34:52

yeah.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 34:52

doctors like that, that are cool.

Track 1 34:54

Yes, he is so.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 34:56

so much. I mean, it was all good stuff that I think that a lot of people, myself, you know, need to know and, know. It's somebody's, you know, people with endometriosis. Somebody's, um, wife, daughter, sister, mother friend.

Track 1 35:12

Yes, exactly. And be so nice to them and send them to Dr. Ari in Jacksonville

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 35:17

Yes.

Track 1 35:19

so everyone can have their nerves severed.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 35:21

Mm-Hmm.

Track 1 35:22

All right, well, there you have it.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 35:24

All right. Thank you for the chat.

Track 1 35:27

Bye.

sierra_1_01-22-2024_114019 35:27

Bye.