Courtney needs our help!! Endometriosis Surgery

Hello All!! My name is Andrew, and I’m reaching out to you to ask for your support for my very best friend, Courtney Rodriguez!!

Courtney is a single mother of 4, who is currently battling endometriosis. She has been out of work for the past two months due to the extreme pain and doctor visits. She is scheduled to have her 3rd surgery for this illness next month, and needs our help to pay bills, care for her children, and for current her medical treatments. 

Here’s Courtney’s Journey,

I was first diagnosed with endometriosis in 2019 when I had my first laparoscopic surgery. I always suffered from very painful periods, but it got a lot worse after having my 4th baby. I can’t take birth control, or any hormone treatments because I have a clotting disorder, so the only thing I could have was the copper IUD. I was done having kids but the copper IUD was making my symptoms way worse. So I decided to have a uterine ablation and during that procedure they would also look for any endometriosis. They removed my tubes that were covered in endo, areas of endo on my pelvic walls, drained a cyst on the left ovary, and did a uterine ablation.

My periods became exponentially more painful (worse than labor pains ), so back to the dr I went. That’s when he diagnosed me with adenomyosis.

I had a hysterectomy in 2020 which started out laparoscopic and had to have a mini laparotomy due to my uterus being so large (from adenomyosis). There was also a large endometrioma on my left ovary. They were unable to save the ovary so they removed that as well.

After I recovered from surgery, I was doing amazing. No more back pain and of course no more painful periods. I thought I was cured!

Fast forward to this past spring when I started having horrible abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and some other symptoms. I honestly thought it was my gall bladder. I finally went to the ER where they found a large cyst on my RIGHT ovary. And so this whole ordeal began.

I kept going back to the ER for extreme pain. The cyst just kept growing and finally one dr told me that just because I had a hysterectomy, doesn’t mean I don’t still have endometriosis, so on top of the cyst, my endo was probably back.

I finally was able to find an amazing endometriosis specialist and am scheduled to have surgery. At this point it can be fairly minor, exploratory and just removing the cyst, or more extensive depending how much endo is found and where it is.

Most people don’t realize that Endometriosis is a chronic, incurable illness. It is a whole body disease and can spread anywhere. It can cause debilitating pain, not to mention the emotional and mental effect it also has. 1 in 10 women have it. Endometriosis can only be diagnosed through surgery as it does not appear on imaging.

Not only am I asking for help for my very best friend and her family, but to also spread more awareness for women suffering with this disease.