She did an exam and ultrasound. “I think you might have endometriosis, a chronic inflammatory disease where tissue from the uterus gets out and coats the abdomen and other organs, causing pain,” she said. “But it doesn’t really matter unless you want to get pregnant: it can cause infertility. Later we might want to address it with surgery. For now, I’d just take ibuprofen during your period.” She gave me some tissues and I wiped myself, dressed, and left, puzzled by the way my pain had been relegated to a sign that my fertility might be compromised, not a problem in its own right.
