What a difference 16 days makes

Now to backtrack a little and give a little more detail about my endo history, I've suffered from endometriosis for a little over fifteen years. It took several incredibly long, painful, expensive and emotional years to get to a diagnosis! Even though the diagnosis was absolutely terrifying, it was such a relief to FINALLY have an answer, an explanation of my suffering. 

Over the past few weeks I've gone through a lot physically, that I've previously blogged about. The following image with the words fits:

Sometimes I feel like the

real me is slowly being

dissolved by this pain.

That so perfectly describes how I've felt for so many (too many really) years. Pain and hopelessness such as this can only be truly understood by those who've experienced it.

However, over the past 16 days a magical, truly cosmic, combination of medication, physical and dietary changes, emotional and spiritual work and growth, has resulted in a rather INCREDIBLE transition, a really 

overwhelmingly beautiful healing.

This first picture was me at the end the very end of last week, feeling quite a bit better, very tentatively, scared that at any second the so-called other shoe would drop and I'd be thrust back into the pain that was so commonly my experience. I do like to keep a photo journal tracking how I'm feeling, especially when experiencing drastic changes, so I can share it with my doctor when needed.

                              

And, again the following picture is of me this morning at work, feeling physically amazing. This reprieve of my physical ailments is truly a pleasantly unexpected turn of events and I plan on being deeply grateful for every second that continues in this direction.

I have joined several online endometriosis support groups via Facebook. I've made a lot of gloriously brave and beautiful friends, 

sisters there. This meme that says

'don't let endometriosis dull your sparkle'

has been such an inspiration for me during this entire process. I hope I haven't been to tarnished or as weathered as I feel throughout

 this hellish journey.

It is mind-blowing what differences can be made in a short 16 days. Below I've made a comparison photo: the smaller photo is of me is one night while I was in the hospital, the middle of the night, in excruciating pain and hours away from my next pain med dosage and the bigger image is me today, which is 16 days later!! I simply cannot get over the difference.

I wanted to share this transformation specifically with other endo sisters out there. Just 16 days ago I was feeling really hopeless of getting ok, much less really good, ever. I want all of my beautiful fellow endometriosisters to catch a glimmer of hope from my experience. I'm not being blinded by the fact that there are still some physical things I need to take care of and more processes to go through, but I will not project into the future my fear and anxieties; 

I'm simply going to enjoy and maybe unpack a bit in this new place of feeling so good.

Thank you for reading my blog this afternoon.

I love all my endo sisters out there.

~namasté.