I'm no stranger to therapy. Having dealt with bouts of depression and anxiety for a few years of my life, I'm not shy when it comes to admitting my weaknesses and opening up about my struggles.

However, physical therapy is a little different. Where mental health counseling often goes, "Let's come to a consensus about where you're struggling and learn how to manage that," physical therapy goes, "Yeah, you suck at this long list of things. Let's fix it."

After turning down Lupron, I decided to try PT to manage an ongoing pain in my left side (right where my endometriosis was found) and dyspareunia - an unfortunately common symptom of endo. But little did I know that I would be dealing with more than I expected.

I like to imagine this "Doctor" is my Old Doctor after we broke up...

"Doctor, it's not me. It's you."

That's what I would have said to my doctor if I could have spoken with him directly. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate everything he's done for me up until this point. But the operative words in that last sentence were "up until this point."

To be perfectly honest, I feel like I've been left high and dry with my recent endo diagnosis, ever since I refused to go on Lupron. Let's recap:

I'll try not to be too cheesy, but this is my first Valentine's Day as a married person and with (diagnosed) chronic illness. I don't really make a big deal out of the holiday, but over the past six months, I've been overwhelmed by the love Andrew has shown me just by being supportive and constant throughout my condition. 

So I thought I'd dedicate my blog post today to Andrew and his ever-present love and affection. Even if I'm sore and crabby and I don't feel like going anywhere, even if I've been in pajama pants with no makeup for three days, even if I drag him to another doctor appointment at another hospital, he never complains, never makes me feel inadequate and always has faith in me.

(Shut up. I love Matchbox 20.)

So yesterday, I was browsing an endometriosis Facebook support group when I saw a post that said, "What do you guys think of this BuzzFeed video?" The link took me to an article titled "One Woman's Journey With A Disorder That Affects Over 170 Million Women."

My immediate reaction was "Holy crap! A high-traffic website is bringing attention to endometriosis?!" Maybe my blinders are coming off now that I've been diagnosed with endo, but up until yesterday, I don't recall ever seeing a popular website talk about this condition. The only other instance I can think of is a 2009 story from ABC News about Padma Lakshmi's journey.

Having heard very few women talk so openly about their endo journey, this video is a big deal to me. Not only because she detailed her physical symptoms. She also talked about the emotional impact that endo has on its victims.

If there's one thing most people with a chronic illness can relate to, it's the feeling that no one is listening to you. In my case, "no one" means "doctors."

I don't want to come down hard on doctors because they truly have a tough job. Every patient wants to be their top priority, and not every patient can be at one time. So I try really hard to give my doctors a break, but eventually, I can't take it anymore.