Internaonal Pain Foundaon—5
wanted to write you a letter to
thank you. That's right, I said
thank you. A tough perspective to
sometimes keep - especially this
morning, when you woke me up at
2:30 am aggressively and perpetually
making your presence known -
my body in pain and making
it impossible to fall back to sleep
for the rest of the night.
In 2008, when I was diagnosed
with you Endo, specifically, Deep
Infiltrating Endometriosis, I had no
idea that your name would hold
such irony. I thought the irony lay
in your medical acronym: DIE -
but the truth of the matter
"infiltrating" was where the real
irony revealed itself. Why you
ask? Because you have tried to infiltrate
every single part of my beloved
life and spirit. You have
worked tirelessly to embed yourself
in all I once found joy in - my
marriage, my subsequent relationship,
my career and my friendships
- my plans for becoming a mother,
my mental and emotional health,
my hobbies, my self-confidence
and sadly, even my faith.
However, after years of meeting as
many women as I have that are
"lucky enough" to know you, Endo...
I have realized it's not personal
- it doesn't matter what type or
stage you haphazardly choose to
bestow upon us, your one and only
goal is to paralyze us by way of
havoc, terror and pain.
What you have gravely underestimated
is this, Endo: Despite your
relentless attempts to victimize,
devour and overpower our
bodies, minds and spirits, despite
us seemingly appearing weak, broken
and overcome when you first
wage war on our bodies, we are
simply taking stock, recalibrating,
reevaluating... reawakening.
Though we'd never wish this on
anyone or anything, by attempting
to attack the very being of what
makes us women, by attempting to
suck the life out of the very organ
that brings life into this world, you,
Endo, have chosen the wrong sex
to prey on.
We're survivors. Fighters. Overcomers.
Victors. Life-givers. We
are, woman after all. You have
miscalculated our pliability, our
strength, our mental and emotional
intelligence. You have unknowingly
and unwittingly empowered us.
Bringing us together, reminding us
of our unbelievable strength, our
terrific wills, our unconditionally
loving and forgiving hearts and our
resilient spirits.
When I was a little girl, after my
parents divorced, my Mom had a
sign hanging in her bathroom that
read, "A woman is like a tea bag -
you never know how strong she is
until she gets in hot water." - Eleanor
Roosevelt
So, thank you. Thank you for
showing us that we are stronger
than we believe. Thank you for
allowing us to see our limitations
and surpass them each and
every day we are here. Thank you
for sifting out the people in our
lives that weren't strong enough to
stand by us and blessing us with
the people in our lives who are
strong enough to stand with us.
Thank you for giving us other
women to draw strength, wisdom
and support from. Thank you for
reminding us of the smallest of
things to be grateful for.
This Endometriosis Awareness
Month (March) know that you may
win a few battles, but the women
you're fighting against, and who
are fighting against you... will never
allow you to win the war.
About the Author: Christina H Chororos,
founded Kairos Chronic Pain
Coaching in the fall of 2017 after obtaining
her Integrative Wellness Life Coaching
certification from the Integrative
Wellness Academy. She is a decade-long
deep infiltrating endometriosis sufferer,
speaker and, suicide prevention + chronic
pain patient advocate. For more information
about Christina’s credentials or
Kairos Chronic Pain Coaching please
visit, kairoschronicpain.com
/kairoschronicpain.com