Brooke McClelland

McClelland talks about her endometriosis. She stayed in the hospital for a few days being treated by a medical team that spent a lot of time ruling out other possible causes for her pain with invasive testing. They found microscopic colitis that didn't explain her pain. She was sent home with a few doses of pain killers and told to follow-up with her community gynecologist. She found it difficult to function and manage her pain after she was discharged. She cried almost every day from pain. She was not able to work at full capacity. Medications to help her bridge to surgery were expensive. She was terrified she would become dependent on opioids. It was several months before she was scheduled for surgery again. The operating report said there was "deep infiltrating disease, parametrial disease, and posterior uterus disease with adhesions." Her gynecologist found extensive, thick endometriosis that encased her ureter, and a urologist had to be brought in intraoperatively to stent her ureter.