My name is Amber. I am 22 years old and my husband, Jeremy, is 23. We met almost 5 years ago on a cruise during my senior year spring break trip in 2010; just 7 months before my official diagnosis. July 20, 2013, we got married in Las Vegas, NV surrounded by 80 of our closest family members and friends. Jeremy has been one of my biggest supporters, although it has definitely been rough on the both of us, but he has always stood by my side, holding my hand through all of the tough times.
At the end of my sophomore year in high school, I went into a depression. I was losing a lot of weight and developed horrible abdominal pain. I was in the Emergency Room like once every two weeks. I had several tests done. Cat Scans, Colonoscopy, Endoscopy, MRI, and so many more. Not much was found besides a non functioning gallbladder which I had removed in February of 2010. Getting it removed did not help my pain which they were hoping it would so I decided to try going to a gynecologist to see if my problems were related to womanly issues and she decided we do a diagnostic laparoscopy to see if we could figure out the problem and on October 27, 2010 I was diagnosed with Endometriosis. I had no idea what it was, besides the little information that the doctor gave. The only thing I really heard her say during my post op appointment was "You will more than likely experience pain for the rest of your life" and "I suggest you try to get pregnant as soon as possible, or else you may never be able to." Jeremy and I were young, 18 and 19 years old. I have always wanted children, and Jeremy has too, but we weren't ready. We just decided from then on, we would not prevent pregnancy but we would not try either. Well now, we wish we would have taken her advice. 4 years has gone by and we are not pregnant and my Endo has gotten much worse. I have progressed from Stage 1 to Stage 4 in 4 short years. I have had 7 surgeries to remove endometriosis in hopes of living a pain free life and be able to get pregnant but nothing is working so far. My current doctor (I have seen multiple) said that the only way I can stop the endo pain is by taking birth control or drug called Lupron which puts your body in a chemical menopause for 6 months which both will interfere with us trying to conceive. He also believes that our only chance of conceiving is through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), so if we cannot get pregnant by the summer of 2015, we will more than likely go that route. Ever since I graduated high school, I never imagined my life being this tough but one great thing is that I have an amazing support system to help me get through it all. Thank you all for stopping by and reading my bio :)
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