Ms B?bhinn Nic Liam:

I wanted to come in because the Cathaoirleach mentioned recovery time. A really important area we do not talk about enough is that when people have surgery it is invasive and it takes time to heal. There is a misconception that a laparoscopy is a simple half-hour procedure and you are a day-case patient so you will be home that night and can just continue your life as normal. What endometriosis patients find out is that, despite what they are told, they can still be stuck in hospital three days later, again depending on the surgery, and it can take weeks and weeks. In my case, it was not possible to do my second major surgery by laparoscopy, so it was open surgery. My recovery time was six months, and at the end of that I could lift up a kettle and pour the water. You are so debilitated and the healing takes time. It would be really nice to have recovery time as part of that national framework. In Germany people can go to the rehabilitation clinic and they have wonderful aftercare and physio and can talk to members of the multidisciplinary team in order that they have psychological help and help from the sex therapist or whatever else they need. They are not sent home to face everything by themselves and to try to pick up their lives. That is just too hard.