First day back to work again
Today I woke feeling exhausted, but had very little pain in the pelvis and lower back. I went to work and made it 3 minutes before the start of my shift, still feeling like I’d be better off back in my bed.
Once I got to work, the uterine pain returned, but it wasn’t debilitating. The pain remained at a 4 on the pain scale for the entire day, and even at this moment, it’s still about a 4.
I took 600mg of Advil liqui-gels at some point today, perhaps around 11am, because the pain was downright annoying. The Advil of course made me even more tired, but I still had to get through the lunch rush from 11:30am - 1:15pm whereby I first monitor children aged 3-5 eating lunch, ensuring they clean up after themselves, and releasing them to the play yard after they’ve finished. I then scan the play yard of up to 50 children romping and screaming at recess (I’m one of 5-6 adults out there at that time), dashing to and fro to stop arguments, stop children from crashing the trikes into each other and/or inanimate objects, and ensuring ground rules of the playground are followed.
The pain spiked to 5.5 a couple of times during recess because of all the darting around and bending over I have to do when interacting with young children.
At my lunch break at 1:15pm, I felt as though I’d fall face first into my food, I was so tired. But I had to eat because I still had to get through afternoon class with the kids.
When I finally got home around 4pm, I crashed on the couch immediately and slept for an hour. I only woke because my upper back was hurting, but I was too stubborn to change into my pajamas and crawl into bed. I knew if I got into bed, I’d be there for the rest of the day.
Of course, since waking from my nap an hour and a half ago, I’ve done pretty much nothing but stare blankly at things. I motivated myself to the storage unit at the back of the house to retrieve the heater fan, because our furnace pilot light is out again. Just weeding through the storage unit and hefting down a 2-foot tall heater fan is all it took to wear me out again.
Welcome to my life with endometriosis. The fatigue right before, during and after menses is ALWAYS like this. For some women with endometriosis, the fatigue is like this 24/7.
If I can muster any energy at all, I may start work on a new video blog - it’s been 6 months since my last video.
I have just over 3 weeks until bedridden time strikes again. Let’s see how many days in the next 3 weeks are actually pain-free before I’m bedridden and taking time off work again.
In September, I had a total of 8 pain-free days, and they weren’t consecutive.
Tomorrow I have an appointment with my masseuse, to get me on a regular massage plan for pain management, and I’ve also talked with a friend of mine tonight to see if she’ll practice on me, since she’s done massage school, too. Got an appointment with her this coming Sunday. :)
Other things on the pain management horizon: another liver/kidney one-month detox program and Chi Nei Tsang sessions, joining a gym again, recommitting to yoga and Qigong again, getting that menu book together I’ve been promising myself for years (culling from gluten-free recipes, yeast free recipes, sugar free/corn syrup free recipes, the endometriosis diet, etc).
As I get older, the pain will only get worse. If it’s not endometriosis, it’s the osteoarthritis. I must stay on top of this and continue to prove to myself and others that I’m doing everything I can outside of surgery and hormones to fight the pain.
October 6th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Are the massages something u pay for or is it covered on your health insurance? I was just curious because I had one when the pain was bad one time and it was wonderful. I would love to have them more often but they do get expensive.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Good question!
I just called Aetna - they offer some kind of discount with massage therapy, but only with preferred providers. I’m trying to find out if my masseuse is on their “approved” list. Otherwise, yeah I pay out of pocket for it.
Now if I can get a masseuse to say it’s “physical therapy”, then I stand a better chance of being covered, per the Aetna rep I spoke to. So I’m going to work on that angle, too.
Thanks!