Curing the Incurable: V-Day

April 2010

I’m sitting in an OBGYN’s office, pain wracking my abdominal region like never before. For weeks now, I’ve been crippled over with severe cramps that shoot burning tentacles through my guts, sometimes ricocheting up into my lungs or down through my legs. Nothing relieves the pain for more than an hour or two, not even hot baths and gentle, loving massages from friends.

Along with the pain, I’m having every symptom of early pregnancy known to man, from the morning nausea to the hot flashes, the swollen breasts to the frequent trips to the bathroom.

The OBGYN, a tall, dark-mooded fellow with little interest in my pain, my humanity, or the typewritten description of my recurring symptoms that I hand to him, ushers me into a treatment room. He runs a series of tests, ending with the painful prodding of an ultrasound wand.

I am in tears. The whole procedure is horrendous. The OBGYN continues to prod, twice making mocking comments about my teary-eyes and leaving me with an unsettled, saddened sense of just how disconnected he is from the fact that I’m not just a patient paying his bills – I’m a person in pain.

The test is over. The OBGYN turns to me: “I see no signs of visible Endometriosis anywhere inside you. You look like a very healthy woman to me. Healthy ovaries, healthy everything! The only thing I see here is some liquid in your uterus — looks like you might have had an ovarian cyst! That would explain all the pain.”

I leave the doctor’s office in stunned silence. No sign of visible Endometriosis…

It’s April 2010 and I had at that point been 100% Raw Vegan for just 6 months.