Incredibly, brutally honest post....

Okay, this post is for all of you ladies....gentlemen, stop reading now. Be forewarned this post is about to be incredibly, brutally honest and it veers a little into the TMI zone but there's a good reminder for any ladies out there reading this.

This time last year I was struggling big time with my menstrual cycle. I have always struggled with having a "normal," consistent cycle. Birth control helped control the flow, but in about four years I had to change brands and dosages multiple times. February 2016 marked the breaking point as things were to the point of going to the doctor to make sure I wasn't losing too much blood...a few tests and two doctor visits later it was determined that yeah, I was losing a little more than I should be but that I'd live, and the urgent care doctor prescribed some iron supplements. The OBGYN I saw in Vancouver said she couldn't do anything for me. I was coming up on KYG though and needed a way to better control things so she had me double up on my pills. I made it through the conference and somehow miraculously made it home to Ellensburg.

I was exhausted, something that was normal after KYG so I wasn't super concerned. However, knowing I'd gone through almost two Costco size boxes of tampons in less than a week, I was a little concerned. My mom on the other hand was extremely concerned and threatened an ER visit. That prompted phone calls to my doctor in town, and they finally let me make an appointment (after telling me, "no, sorry, we can't get you in" two weeks prior when I wanted to make an appointment instead of seeing a random OBGYN in Vancouver....ugh!).

Twelve hours spent in the doctor's office and/or the hospital and two units of blood later, (the doctors and nurses nicknamed me "Ghosty" before I got the transfusion) I was all patched up. I continued taking iron supplements through this last summer and have finally tapered off with the doctor's permission. I still experience side effects, especially going up and down stairs or bending down....There's no rhyme or reason that the doctor can identify for this to have happened, even a year later. So, we came up with a solution that for the most part has taken care of everything, not to say there haven't been additional ups and downs. Those ups and downs in fact, are leading me to an endocrinologist in Wenatchee. I'm hopeful for some more answers or at least answers to put me on the right path to figuring things out.

So, ladies, please please please please please keep track of things happening in/with your body. If you have any family history of things, be sure to write them down and pass that list on to the girls in your family. It's extremely important for future generations of women to come.