Felicity Egginton’s Endometriosis Story
By Felicity Egginton
My name is Felicity and I am 27 years of age. When I heard the words, you have “Stage 2 Endometriosis”, it was a relief. I know, you’re probably thinking why would it be a relief to be diagnosed with this condition. But it was almost like I could remember then and there every single ounce of pain I have had throughout my 20’s (in my teenage years too) and there was a reason for it, it wasn’t all in my head, it wasn’t a normal period, it wasn’t normal pain or symptoms that I endured almost daily. I was given an answer to something that I questioned for so many years, after so many misdiagnoses, Its probably IBS, Stress, Constipation, Urinary Infections, your Coeliac Disease (which I also have), to then be told by a doctor that they had removed so much Endometriosis all over my Bladder, Left Pelvic Wall, Bowel, Ovarian Fossa, Pararectal and USL which literally are all the areas I had complications with, yet no doctor picked this up sooner. Instead I lived my life in pain thinking this was normal, thinking that painful intercourse was normal, thinking that heavy periods were normal, irregular periods were normal, painful and cramping bowel movements were normal, pain after urinating was normal if I had held it in, cramping throughout the month even when I wasn’t on my period, yep I thought that was normal too. The thing is, none of these symptoms are normal and it wasn’t until a few years ago when I heard the word “Endometriosis” for the first time from a friend that I thought to myself, wow, I literally have all of these symptoms and more, and that’s when I decided that I needed to be proactive and ask my doctor for an Ultrasound. It was March 2019, I went into my doctors office who knew I had complications already, and he wrote me out a referral to see an Ultrasound Specialist to see what was going on. A few weeks later I had my first ultrasound, an internal and external, and wow, the amount of excruciating pain I felt in the Internal was unbearable! My bowel and Ovary weren’t sliding how they should have been, my left ovary was over double the size of my right. When my doctor went over these results with me he knew something wasn’t right and put me on the waiting list in the Public system to see a Gynaecologist.
It was a long process, throughout the year of 2019 my symptoms most definitely got worse so after waiting months and months I decided to get another ultrasound where they revealed that my bowel and ovary were still sticking together and my left pelvic wall, along with a polyp that had come up which needed to be removed just to be safe as polyps are mostly benign but there is the small chance that they can become nasty and turn into cancer.
In early 2020, Coronavirus started and I really started to become concerned about my symptoms, I had an upset stomach every single morning and a constant urge to go to the toilet sometimes up to 3 times before work. From my earlier years of severe constipation to now the complete opposite! I called the Hospital to see how far I was off seeing a Gynaecologist, and I was informed that I had been taken off the list!!!! I was taken off the list because of COVID every single person that had been in Category 3 was wiped, and had to resubmit everything! It was stressful to say the least. I had to go back to my doctor and get him to write out another referral, this time being upgraded to Category 2 meaning the wait wouldn’t be as long. A few months later I received a call from the Hospital, my initial appointment with the doctor would be at the end of June.
I remember walking into the doctors office, having him go over the procedure and that was pretty much it. I was locked in for a Laparoscopy within 3 months. Thoughts ran through my head. Am I doing the right thing? Maybe this is all in my head and its nothing, what if something goes wrong. I wont lie and say I wasn’t anxious leading up the operation but I had a loving support group beside me, my family and friends and even women I had never met before in the Endometriosis Community. All of this really did help ease my nerves.
It was the day, the day of my operation and the day to hopefully find answers for the years of pain I had been enduring. I was told that no one was allowed to come to the Hospital, to visit me, to be with me. My anxiety levels were through the roof but at the same time my body remained composed and calm.
My fiancé drove me to the hospital. I said goodbye gave him a big kiss, and walked inside. Kind of walking around clueless I finally found where I had to go, walked in, handed my forms over and sat patiently waiting for my name to be called out. “Felicity Egginton” a lady called my name, oh shit that’s me I thought, gathered my belongings and followed her into the preparation room. She gave me some rather stylish clothes to wear and I must say the compression socks are killer! I suited up ready to go, and was called into another room to go over my details. I was given a bracelet (it was red as I have an allergy to penicillin) and was taken to another waiting room.
As I looked down at my bracelet I realised it wasn’t even my name, the nurse had accidentally put someone else’s name on me, I started to get quite nervous about that as you would before a nurse came up and called my name. I told her that my bracelet had someone elses name on there (I don’t really want a completely different operation haha!) and she took me to get it fixed, then taking me to the operation room. I remember sitting there waiting in the room in between the operation room and the hallway. It was a preparation room, I sat there on the bed, rather nervous at this point. I could see into the room and there must have been over 10 nurses, doctors and students in there. I had 3 doctors for my surgery. The anaesthetist came up to me, a very kind man, patted my hand and asked me about my history. Having lived with Anxiety and that being on my form he said he would give me a few medicines to help relax me - and relax me they did, although I still could feel my nerves too!
I was wheeled into the room, and then it went black. That’s all I remember, no countdown, nothing. I remember waking up in a different room, being very groggy and very bloated. I think that was about 12pm, 4 hours after my operation. I fell in and out of sleep, and when I finally woke up and was ready for something to eat I got an excruciating pain in my stomach (They refer this to the gas pain). The doctors came over and gave me some pain medicine and back to sleep I went. I woke up again in quite a bit of pain this time lower, I said I think I need to go to the toilet. Having the nurse help me up and take me over I went to the toilet where it was almost impossible to urinate, but in the end I got there with my mind rather then using my body to push, if that makes sense.
They then transferred me to a chair where I got still lean back and lay down. This is where the shoulder pain kicked in and I mean WOW it kicked in alright. The pain was atleast a 9/10 pain, and im talking 10/10 being the absolute worse pain, it felt like my shoulders were being crushed, and just so painful, the nurse came over gave me a few more medicines and I went back to sleep. The next time I woke up my fiancé was there, ready to take me home, I was so happy to see a familiar face, and to feel like everything was going to be ok.
The car ride was a little tricky with every bump I felt within my body, as we got home I had to make my way up the stairs to my bed where I laid for 4 days besides getting up to go to the toilet. Each day became easier and easier. Throughout my recovery journey I remained positive, positive that I finally had an answer, positive that I did something about it, and positive that I need to do more to help raise awareness for this condition that is lacking awareness throughout the community and medical community too.
I hope my story can urge other people to get checked. If you have ongoing symptoms, pain, and just feel like something isn’t right, then it probably isn’t! Please get checked, whether it be for this condition or for another. Most of all, Stay positive, no matter the outcome, remember you can get through this, you are strong, you are brave, you are loved, and the most important of all you are you, and this is your journey, make your own choices and look after your body and mind.
Felicity (Flick) Egginton
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