A self-portrait taken to document my life-changing surgery.
Any surgical incisions pale in comparison to the unseen pain of endometriosis – a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows in other places. While it feels like having your organs wrapped in barbed wire by Satan, serious health concerns about menstruation are often dismissed. Despite my high pain threshold, I experienced years of nauseating pelvic pain and heavy periods that were deemed ‘normal’ in the doctor’s office.
When some progress was finally made, I was hit with the news that the waiting time for my operation would be around 3 years. After much consideration, I made a difficult decision to pay for the surgery myself and have it done sooner in a private clinic in Manchester, UK.
The surgeon removed multiple cysts, including one from inside of my ovary measuring nearly 6cm in diameter (!).
I’m sharing this deeply personal story to break the menstrual stigma and encourage anyone facing similar issues to advocate for their health. There was nothing ‘normal’ about the pain I had been dealing with since my teens and it breaks my heart I was ever made to believe otherwise.
