First off, I want to tell you all how I'm so grateful and thankful God has placed such good people in my life. During my unexpected, extended stay in the hospital so many of you have reached out via phone call, email, text, Facebook. Also, for those who thought of, and prayed for me. THANK YOU! I appreciate you all more than you know.  I would not have made it with my right mind without Anthony Bell, my dads best friend Mr. Jordan, Martha Hoppe, Jessica Sprague, Melissa Smith, and Cindy Piggott for saving me from boredom! Raquel Mendoza coming to visit me and doing any and everything, Ashley Goudeau for the laughs, and Rodney Clark. ........
I appreciate all of the flowers, reading material, gifts, drinks, help with my dogs, bringing and holding down the fort at school in my absence from my SLPeeps, OFE Peeps, Stephanie Pena, Cindy Piggott, Cindy Howlett, Jessica Sprague, Raquel Mendoza, Kimberly Ballenger, Allison Wilson and of course my parents for their continuous support through this journey.
I'm so ret (yes, I mean't to say that) to go!!!! But, you guys have made it a lot easier for me to focus on my health and getting better!....
Shout out to my awesome doctors, nurses, techs and healthcare professional here at Kingwood Medical Center: Dr. Qureshi, Dr, Khoiry and Dr, Gyorfi and my doctor Dr. Delhey who all have played a part and worked together for my care.
My nurses (even though I probably wasn't very pleasant waking up) every freaking hour of the night and turning on (what seemed like) every freaking light in the room.  Sweet and gentle Molly, calm Vivian, on-the-run Johnette (who stayed running all 12 hours during her shift), but especially my favorite nurse, Tia, who kept it real made sure things were effective and efficient, takes her job very seriously and is very good at it. Also to the techs Rosie, Ramona, Tanya and Lindsey who were discreet as possible at night and cracking me up during the day when checking my vitals. Lastly, the cafeteria staff who made sure I had my food ready and warmed up all the times that I wasn't nauseous, in pain or fasting.....
I didn't really know how serious developing sepsis and phelonephritis was when admitting myself into the ER. Glad I trusted my instinct in knowing something wasn't right, thinking I had appendicitis (I was wrong). I am filled with gratitude for the people above and their quick, thoroughness, collaboration and genuine care in getting me healed.
Getting down to the root of all of these issues, is the Endo. It was the culprit that started these issues with my organs. My immune system is compromised from it and my kidney doesn't function because of it. This is why I advocate so much and am so passionate about making more people aware of this

debilitating disease. It's NOT just mentrual cramps, nor is it just during the time of your cycle. At my worst, it started a week before, continued the week of and didn't subside until the week after my cycle. That left 1 good week of feeling normal. Yet, it's almost impossible to claim disability. How can you focus on relationships, work, family, home? It's like knives stabbing you repeatedly in your pelvic region. When it sits on your nerves it affects your back, legs and ability to walk when you have what feels like an electric shock radiating down your legs. When it's fused to your bowels and urinary tract making it painful to urinate and impossible to have a movement, leading to fecal compaction or tears. It gives you aura migraines. Treatments can affect your bones and memory (concentration), sanity, or making you nauseous, depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue and a host of other things when you take medication. You are also more likely to have other auto immune disorders along side of it. It may also require invasive and multiple surgeries and cause infertility. It can fuse itself around reproductive and other organs causing them to not function properly or to lose function completely, which in my case, has lead to a serious infection in my blood stream. Lastly, there is the debt you accrue trying to get yourself healthy. Endometriosis is invisible on the outside, but a mess on the inside. It affects your life, daily!!! There is no known cause, though scientist have different theories, and there is no cure. AND it's more common than you think. 1 and 10 women have Endometriosis. Chances are you know someone diagnosed with it. Granted, there are different stages and some might not show any symptoms while others deal with the symptoms listed above. I think it deserves much more research! I also think when it comes to women's health ,in general, we should not have male law makers and politicians making decisions for "what's best for women" , but I digress.
Moral of the story: Trust your gut.  Educate yourself and advocate for yourself.
I'm out! (Drops tha mic')
#endendo #endureendo #yellowforendo #marchisendometriosisawarenessmonth

My Battle with Endometriosis

Let me first introduce myself. My name is Denetra Bell. I was diagnosed with an auto immune disease, Stage IV Endometriosis in 2013, but have endured pain for years. Along with Endo, I have IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and suspected Adenomyosis (only can be confirmed through a hysterectomy). I am currently in the process of a diagnosis for hypothyroidism as well. Whew....now that I've gotten that out of the way... I've always had moderate-severe pain with my menstrual cycle, but since that is how it has always been for me, I thought that it was normal. Until my senior year in college, that is. I was on the dance team and had practice earlier in the day. I felt nauseous, faint, and really bad cramps but managed to make it through and came back to my dorm to study for finals. It was then that I knew that this was not normal. These pains were not just cramps. I could not even walk. I literally had to crawl my way to use the restroom. I went to my primary care doctor who immediately suspected endometriosis as the culprit to all of this pain that I was experiencing. So off I went to find an OB/GYN to fix this. The first one I went to rushed through my questions and quickly prescribed pain pills (which didn't work). The second OB/GYN told me that I needed surgery but didn't recommend having it immediately unless I was ready to conceive. The endometriosis would return and I would be sitting right back in his office for another surgery. So I waited and waited (years) until I could no longer bare the pain. I went to a new PCP and she ran some tests and I had a UTI and some other infection that made her worry enough to send me to Kingwood Medical Center STAT for further tests. Turns out I had an obstruction in my ureter and had surgery to put a stent in place. It got to the point of having a few "good" days out of the month before the cycle would start again. After a trip to the emergency room, my (somewhat overprotective) dad walked the halls to talk to a doctor to refer me to "the best" OB/GYN in HKA area. This lead me to the third doctor who told me that the only way this could be treated was with a complete hysterectomy. I am 28, with no children, so this left me hysterical! Anything that was said after that was a blur. I sat in my car and cried that day! My dad talked with the  doctor afterwards and he referred me to a Urogynocologist (because of my background with kidney problems).  I had a CT scan done and there was again no sign of a kidney stones and no reason why there was still a blockage in my kidney. My Urogynocologist referred me to a Reproductive Endocrinologist, Dr. Mangal. Finally, I'm getting closer to some answers! After having 2 uretal stents, lupron injections, CT Scans, MRI's, ultrasounds, countless blood tests (with horrible veins), Electrogastrography (EEG), Intravenous Pyelogram (IVP), & emergency room visits...I finally got my diagnosis after having a laparascopic procedure. During the surgery, Dr. Mangal was not able to complete any excision due to the severity and risk for infection. Four months later, I was back in the OR undergoing a laparotomy. He found my entire right side fused together including: urinary bladder, right ovary, rectum, right ureter, right Fallopian tube and posterior wall of the uterus. He described it as "frozen pelvis". I had cysts that had grown hair and teeth, ruptured cysts, and a retracted (tilted) uterus. I also had a superficial adhesion on my left ovary, but thankfully he was able to remove it and for the most part my left side was untouched. He was not able to completely remove the adhesions fused to my uterus without damaging it. I was strongly encouraged to freeze my eggs or have babies NOW. This is my story. It has been a little over a year since the surgery and I am still enduring Endo.

Welcome to my blog spot! I've put this off for years and just recently thought, what better time to start than during March (Endometriosis Awareness Month)? So, here it is! I was officially diagnosed with Endometriosis in 2013. After many appointments and surgery, I was referred to Dr. Mathias at Gastrointestinal Consultants in Houston. It was then he prescribed an "Endo Diet". I saw this sign at his office and it inspired me to create a blog where I can post tried and true recipes that are also Endo friendly. Hope that you enjoy!