Physical Wellness - Battling My Bear

Celebratory trip to Disneyland after removal of an ovary that had pretty much become a tumor, and discovery of my bear.

Like an estimanted 80 million women and girls worldwide, I'm wrestling with Endometriosis. Endometriosis (Endo for short) is a condition where endometrial cells start growing where they shouldn't. In cases like mine, they attach themselves to gastrointestinal structures, effectively gluing thing together that shouldn't be glued. It hurts, but it's not a constant pain. Just a daily one.  There really isn't a "treatment" for Endo, aside from surgery. In my personal case, it's believed that surgery would do more harm than good, as I have a gentic scarring condition that makes the result of surgery often more painful than whatever they were going in to fix. Since it isn't organ/life threatening, I've opted to leave it alone (for now) and work through it.

What does not kill us makes us stronger is very true.

Endo can make it challenging to work out. Anything more than swimming often makes it act up.

Being in chronic pain can also do a number on your mood and spirit. It's easy to just curl up in a ball and live in the pain and depression, rather than to challenge it.

I'm not really one for "easy" anything.

So I challenge it. How? By working out - running particularly. You can bet all that jostling around makes it hurt, but the ipod blaring the motivational song of the day in my ears helps me get my mind off of it. I imagine running away from it, and it keeps me going. When that's too much, swimming is a great way to get my work out in, without doing too much impact damage on my body. I aim to endure as much as I can, and only pop the Advil if it gets too much. (Of course, by this point, I'm popping about 800-1200mg, but usually one dose of that makes it tolerable again.)

I'm lucky. It's pretty rare (right now, anyway) that I stumbled nauseated into the bathroom and pray to the porcelin god.  It happens, but it's rare. I decided a long time ago that no matter what is going wrong in my body, it won't define who I am. That's a choice I make, not a circumstance I find myself in.

My point is - everyone has a Bear. Most of us have several. How do we fight the Bear? One day, sometimes one moment, at a time. One small change can make a great difference in defeating it.

Sure, not every day/moment is a victory. "Some days, you eat the bear. Some days, the bear eats you. But ALWAYS dress for the hunt!"

How will you fight your bear this week?

One thing remains constant. Bear meat tastes amazing.