@endofound: "I still had the binder with me for every visit. It had all the surgeries, photos, pathology — everything to show them what had been done." Nicole Piombino's #endo symptoms started at age 11. What followed was a decade-plus medical merry-go-round: OBGYN to GI to hematologist to rheumatology to primary care to urologist and back again, while she carried a binder documenting every appointment, every surgery, every dismissal. Two D&Cs, a partial hysterectomy, a full hysterectomy and still the pain came back every time. At one point, she weighed 93 pounds, was sleeping sitting up, and was still working full-time as a self-employed hair stylist because she couldn't afford to stop. It wasn't until she found a specialist in Tampa, nearly four hours from home, that a four-and-a-half-hour excision surgery finally found the truth: #endometriosis on her colon, ureter, pelvic ligaments, and iliac artery. "You were 100 percent right. It was bad," the surgeon told her when she woke up. "I said, 'Thank you. I know. I've been arguing that with doctors for years.'" Nicole's advice to anyone still searching for answers: keep the binder, keep asking, and keep going. Read Nicole's full story: https://www.endofound.org/nicole-piombino-endometriosis-medical-binder #endometriosisawareness

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Friday 28 August 2026 22:25:15 GMT