A New Journey

I am writing this blog at five minutes until midnight (and I have to wake up at 5:30 am). No, I'm not crazy, I am just in pain. I am learning to control my pain, but it is worse at night when I've been up and about all day. This morning, I had a doctor's appointment at 8:00 a.m. to get an instillation (medication in my bladder) and talk to him about a presacral neurectomy (surgery to remove the nerves that send the pain signals from my central pelvic area to the brain). We are hoping that this surgery will help relieve some of my pain. Usually the appointments only last for about thirty minutes, so I assumed that I would make it to my physical therapy appointment at 9:00 a.m. just fine. Well, you know what they say about assuming... My doctor (Dr. Robert S. Furr, who I absolutely adore by the way) was so busy that it was almost 10:00 before I left his office. Thankfully, my physical therapist (Kaitlen, again, adored by me) fit me into her schedule at 2 o'clock this afternoon. She said that since I was post op from a perenial repair, I needed to be seen and couldn't afford to miss an appointment at this point in my therapy.
I have Chronic Pelvic Pain. My conditions are Interstitial Cystitis, Vulvodynia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Chronic Constipation, Pelvic Floor Dysfunction, and I had Endometriosis until I had a partial hysterectomy in July of 2013. There is no way to describe the pain that I feel on a daily basis. I have to limit my physical activity (even the way I sit). If I have a day when I need to get things done, I have to make sure that I can rest (lie down) for at least 8+ hours. It has taken a lot of research, doctor's visits, medical tests, and procedures to finally understand how I need to cope with this pain.
Kaitlen (my physical therapist) and I were talking today about starting a support group for people with Chronic Pelvic Pain in the Chattanooga (TN) area. She told me that she would be willing to help me with it. I am so excited that I am about to burst. We are hoping that we can get a room at the hospital that she works at for the support group to meet in. I have been doing research (you will quickly learn that I do a LOT of research) about starting support groups and I decided that I would also start a blog about my journey. It has been one LONG, painful journey. I have always known that God is using me through this madness and I feel like I have finally figured out a clue as to what he is using me for. I pray that he will lead me to help others who are facing the same type of issues as I am. I know that there are people out there who are going through something much harder than I am going through, but this seems like hell most days.
I am excited for this blog to grow and I hope to be a shoulder for others to lean on when they feel like the pain or the psychological effects are too much to bear. Since I will only get five hours of sleep if I fall asleep right now, I will make this first post a short one. Please feel free to email me at JulieHawkins581@gmail.com
Goodnight!
Jewls