PERSONAL STORY: VICKI BACKMAN

April 14th of 1990 started like any other day. I woke, got dressed, had some breakfast (pizza and a few green onions), and went up to my room to read. The day was wonderful. It was good Friday, I was on Easter break, and I was eagerly anticipating helping my mother and my Aunt Vicki make Easter sausage that evening. Around 1 PM my mother asked me if I wanted to go to our local mall with her. I happily agreed. As we were checking out of Kmart, I was overtaken by the worst pain in my pelvic area I had ever had in my life. My mother said that I turned white as a ghost and could not even stand up.

My mother asked me what I had eaten for breakfast and I told her. She thought that I just had a stomach ache from the food and as soon as we got home she sent me to bed. I was sad, because this meant that I could not help. By this time it was going on 3 PM. I laid in bed for hours crying and moaning. My mother first gave me some Milk of Magnesia, then when that didn't work she gave me 2 of her Fiorinial that she took for her migraines. This was about 7 PM. By this time my Aunt Vicki had arrived and started to work on the Easter Sausage.

About 7:45 PM I started getting sick to my stomach. I don't remember how many times that I threw up. About 9:30, my mother came into my bedroom and found me lying on the floor hallucinating from the pain. She and my aunt still had to finish the sausage so she had my father take me to the ER. The next thing that I remember is waking up from the anesthetics at 3:30 in the morning. Off and on I dozed till the early morning when the doctor and my parents came in and told me what was wrong. On my right ovary, I had a cyst. It had ruptured and started to poison my body. I was lucky that my father had brought me in when he had. I almost died.

The doctor also informed me that I had a disease called Endometriosis. He had to cut some of it out during the operation. He also removed my appendix. I was in the hospital for 4 days and sent home to recover. I went back to school 4 weeks later and finished 8th grade by the skin of my teeth.

Over the next 10 years I had 6 more operations, 5 Laps and 1 with a large incision. Every time I either had a cyst removed or endometriosis lasered. I barely got through high school. The only thing that saved me was my boyfriend Tim. We met in 1992 and married in 1994. He is my rock, and has been here through thick and thin, or as our vow's state: In Sickness and in health. Always my sickness and his health.

Since I was 16 or about the time of my third operation, I was put on a drug called Stadol. It is a narcotic, received into your system through a nose spray. Very strong, very easy to use, and very addicting. It was a wonder drug. Also, about this time, I started begging every doctor I saw to perform a hysterectomy. They all said no, because I was so young. I told them that I didn't care, I was tired of the pain, tired of the drugs, and mostly, tired of not living.

Tim and I decided to start trying to have children right away. We wanted to be young to enjoy them and so they could enjoy us. I had read that most young couples should try for at least a year, if not two, before trying any fertility treatments. We waited three years. After three years I went to a doctor automatically assuming that the fertility problems were from my body. For the longest time the doctors thought so too. It was not until January of 2000 that we decided to test Tim. We found out he did have a small problem. It is called a varicocele. It is a varicose vein in his scrotum. He had to have an operation. Just 20 days after my last laparoscopy, he had his operation. They made a four inch incision in his pelvic area, removing the testicle that had the varicocele in it and placing it on his stomach, fixing the problem and re-implanting the testicle. For weeks after, Tim's left testicle was the size of a baseball. It was quite funny but, quite painful.

Over the next 6 months, Tim's sperm count increased right along with my pain in my pelvic area. I was to the point to where I was in bed 10 days out of the month. In January of this year I finally could not take it anymore. I was getting tired of my OBGYN messing around. I just could not stand it anymore. So, I started seeing a new doctor. A young female one. She finally agreed to refer me to a surgeon for a consultation. I saw Dr. L towards the end of January, she was wonderful. We discussed some options and she let me choose what I wanted. I knew exactly what I wanted. I had wanted this since I was 16. A hysterectomy. She agreed. Being a woman, I think that she understood that I could not take this pain anymore. I had to wait one month before she would do the operation and I had to see a therapist to make sure that I completely understood what the operation really meant. I would be sterilized. I could not be more adamant that I understood this.

As March 8th approached, I became more excited. I could not believe that my wish was finally going to come true. Along with this, Tim and I found out that there were 2 little girls in a town about 3 hours from where we live, that were up for adoption. They were sisters and need a home more than anything. Tim and I knew right away that we could provide that home. Now I had two things to be excited about. My operation and the two little girls.

On the day of the operation I had to be up at 4:30 to prepare my body. We arrived at the hospital at 6 am. There were forms for me to sign, blood to be taken, and I.V.'s to be inserted. I cried a bit, and the hardest thing I had to do that morning was sign the sterility form. It took me 2 minutes to do it. At 6:45 I walked into the operation room, sat on the table and was put to sleep. Three hours later I awoke in pain and throwing up, but I finally got what I wanted and I was happy.

I am now 5 and a half weeks post op and feeling great! I am still happy. The adoption is coming along wonderfully and I have no regrets. Well, that is somewhat of a lie. I do regret one thing: That I was not able to do this earlier.

Vicki Backman

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