Health and Lonliness

There's nothing that will make you feel quite so alone as health problems.

Boys, if you're squeamish reading about women's health issues, you can stop reading here.

To give a bit of a back story, it's pretty likely that there's nothing seriously wrong with me. A couple of doctors (one of which was a specialist for the condition) suspect that I have endometriosis, a condition where the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. It's common; it's still little understood and often undiagnosed but it's suspected that between 10-15% of women have it. It's nothing life-threatening but it's unpleasant. I get bad cramping (among many other symptoms, which I wont get into), and if I'm off the pill it's absolutely unmanageable and not limited to -that- time of the month. The only way to truly diagnose the condition is through a laparoscopy, which involves surgically sending in a camera to look. I was hoping to get an appointment for one this summer. But as my pre-exam ended up being too painful, I have to wait. This is what's getting to me, and what's making me feel lonely. If I did the procedure this summer, I'd have my parents here and they could help me out. It's not a huge deal but I've had a couple of friends who have had them, and they told me that you need someone there with you for the first few days after because it's extremely difficult to get up and stuff on your own. They'd be here, and it would just be easier. Also, I don't have university to interrupt.

I know that it's not a long recovery period (I was quoted a week or so), and I have great friends here who I'm sure will be able to help. it's just given me that sense that I live alone, and that there's no one here automatically to help out when these things happen to me. I got the same sense last fall when I recovered from strep throat, anaphylactic shock and a cold all in one go.