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[quote=Anonymous]Hopefully my perspective will be helpful since I also have stage IV endo and am an MB w/a 9 month old.

First of all, I'm really sorry about your diagnosis. Endometriosis is awful. A few questions, though - did you have a lap performed? There is no way that they can effectively diagnosis you with endometriosis, much less your stage, without a laparoscopy. They can *guess*, and make an educated guess, even, but they can't do a formal diagnosis.

If you start doing heavy research, you will find that the VAST majority of ob/gyn's, even really good ones, know essentially nothing about endometriosis. This would explain your diagnosis without surgery if that is what happened- it must have been because you would not have been back at work on Monday if you had surgery.

I would not tell your employer that you were diagnosed with stage IV endometriosis if you have not yet had surgery. I have been shocked to find (since my diagnosis) that MANY more women have endometriosis than I had realized. You are going to look like an idiot at best, and liar at worst, if you tell them that you were diagnosed and it is clear that you did not have surgery and they have enough knowledge about the disease to know that your diagnosis was not real.

Another thing, endometriosis is highly treatable with surgery FROM A TRUE EXPERT. It is called excision surgery and there are only about 20 real excision experts in the country. Most do not accept insurance and none are in the DC area. If I were you, I would try to find one of these doctors that do accept insurance (you will have to travel for it) and make an appointment for an exploratory laparoscopy. They will be able to go inside you, diagnose you, and take out all the endo, all at once. Your quality of life will dramatically improve and your fertility will also improve.

I am not sure if he still takes insurance but I would highly recommend starting with Dr. Patrick Yeung- I used him with excellent results and now have a 9 month old when all the DC OB's told me that my chances of getting pregnant naturally were less than 3%. He is located in St. Louis but did take my insurance, which is huge.

This said, you cannot take your summer vacation and you need to be open and honest with your employers WHILE giving them a plan of attack to ensure that you do not keep having to take random days off. Even with all the sympathy I have for women with endometriosis, I would not be able to continue to employ you with tons of days off because I'd put my own job in jeopardy.

I would also HIGHLY recommend waiting to TTC until you are married. If you get the excision done by an expert, you will be ok on the fertility end if you wait a few years (not many, but a few). You 100% need to have your finances in order and a stable life situation before you have that baby.[/quote]

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