PERSONAL STORY: DARLENE MOLLMy name is Darlene Moll. I am a thirty seven year old white female. I have had endometriois for as long as I can rememeber. I started with a cyst on my left ovary when I was sixteen. I had my first child when I was eighteen and I had an emergency c-section, with another cyst on my left ovary removed at that time that weighed four pounds. I was diagnosed with endometriois. The pain is so unbearable at times that I thought of suicide. In December 18, 1982 I had a miscarriage. I went untreated because the doctors I was seeing told me that all the pain I was having was in my head. They said that I didn't have an ovary on my left side so therefore there couldn't be any pain. I bled from that day until May of 1983 when I met Dr. Nora DeLara and she had me scheduled for a D&C the very next day. In 1985, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer that had to be removed by cryosurgery. I had my second child in November 1987 which went fine. In the years that followed I had very painful periods all of the time. Sometimes it was unbearable. I was seeing Dr. Michael Magan at this time because my insurance wouldn't cover Dr. DeLara and he just gave me pain medication. He didn't know why I was having such bad periods. I had a tubal ligation done in September of 1994. The periods constantly got worse. In April of 1997 I had sonograms done inside and out and they couldn't find anything wrong. Scar tissue and endometriosis can't always be detected by these methods because they are soft tissue. They don't show up as abnormal in the body. I went to internist, gynecologist, and my family practician to no avail. In 1997 my insurance at this time covered Dr. DeLara again so I went back to her. In August 1998, I had exploratory surgery. She removed five pounds of scar tissue. Everything seemed fine for about eleven months. Then the pain returned and she said the endometriosis was worse. She recommended a hysterectomy. At first I was devastated because I was only 36. I was tired of pain medication and feeling terrible all the time. The pain was ruling my life. This surgery was done on August 22, 2000. I haven't had any pain since that time. The after-surgery pain was less than what I was living through for years. Not having a period isn't so bad either. I haven't been able to live this normally since I don't know when. Thank God that I have a wonderful and understanding husband who stuck with me through all of this. In closure, if you are suffering through this keep searching until you find a doctor that knows what to look for. I did and I will never regret it. May we all live pain free one day and God Bless You. Darlene Moll |