[PEACEFUL MUSIC]

TRACY DIMOND: Circus arts are

very much about what you can do

with your body,

and participating in circus arts

has just been something that

makes me feel like I can just

be strong in my own way.

[WATER SPLASHING]

The sports I grew up in

are endurance sports.

And when your motto is "pain is

weakness leaving the body,"

you just take that pain you're

feeling, wherever it is,

and you keep pushing.

So with the pain that came

with my periods, I just took

that as being something

that I had to overcome.

So as I was in my 20s, I just

noticed how much worse

each period was getting.

I started having really extreme

nausea.

I would vomit the first couple

days of my period.

Because I didn't have

a diagnosis or something I could

pinpoint, I really just kept it

to myself.

So the place that it would

really come out

was in my poetry.

"Let me show you my sunflower.

She waits for water and moving

light.

She asks for nothing

and hopes to be heard."

[SPRAY CAN SHAKING]

Even though I was telling myself

that it can't be that bad,

it's just me not being

strong enough, I still really

wanted to find some sort

of answer.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

And so then I found some doctors

in the area that were said to be

specialists in painful periods.

So I went to one

of those doctors,

and that's the first time anyone

ever said to me, "This sounds

exactly like endometriosis."

And at that appointment,

um, I definitely, um, cried out

of relief.

It's quite frustrating

to realize that I spent a third

of my life--

so a decade of my life--

um, telling myself that I wasn't

strong and telling myself

that it must be in my head.

After I had surgery, the doctor

said that he didn't think

it would be as bad as it was.

They took out my appendix.

It was attached to pretty much

anything it could be attached

in in my pelvic cavity.

I said that I'd been in pain

for over a decade, so I wouldn't

have expected any less.

I did notice in those months

after excision surgery

that my symptoms were not

as extreme.

The way it affects your body

is different for each person.

But because endometriosis

doesn't have a clear path

for treatment or a set cure,

I don't really feel in control

of it.

But what I'm learning is to not

have to feel in control of it,

but doing what I can to treat it

with all sorts

of different types of therapies

and then just really

taking the time to honor my body

and feel that, you know,

sometimes it's just going to be

hard.

[SOLEMN PIANO MUSIC]

[GUITAR ENTERS]

I started circus arts five years

ago.

We do a lot of stretching,

and that's already part

of the pelvic floor

physical therapy.

So just being dedicated

to stretching and keeping

my core and hips strong

has been really

important for helping alleviate

the pain I feel.

And then there's also

the social component.

Even if I am having a bad pain

day, if I can get myself

to class,

that

is a huge emotional component

that I don't think you can

discount.

So being able to do something

with my body that can be so

expressive has just changed how

I see my body and, I think,

has been a huge way for me

to cope with endometriosis.