HOW MUCH CAN ONE WOMAN TAKE?
“The endometriosis had grown back everywhere between those surgeries. It was attached to my bowel, kidney, bladder—everything was stuck together,” she said. The mental agony Solomon went through then and for the next twenty-plus years was as taxing as the physical pain. It started with the doctor who diagnosed her with endometriosis—he told her she should have a hysterectomy because she’d likely never carry a baby to term. She ignored his advice. “He was so callous,” Solomon said. “The way he said it was very matter-of-fact. I was only 19, and to be told that I couldn’t have children was soul-crushing.” As the years progressed, she’d see nearly 20 OBGYNs in a search for answers. Each one diagnosed her with something new or came up with an excuse for her pain, despite Solomon telling them from the start that she had endometriosis. “Many of them were very harsh,” Solomon said. “Some of them dismissed my pain by telling me it was in my head. Others told me I had irritable bowel syndrome. One was more interested in using me for his research and treated me like a petri dish. Another accused me of having pelvic inflammatory disease from sexually transmitted infections. I had myself checked for STIs, and when I verified and told them I didn’t have any, they said, ‘Well, that’s probably what it is.’”
“Some of them dismissed
my pain by telling me it was in my head.”
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