At the beginning of our journey with Dr. Hottie, we had a consultation with him. After doing much research, I knew that I really didn’t want to have to endure any invasive testing procedures, and IVF was only a last resort for us. (I was so cock sure of the fact that my body was just fine and of our ability to get pregnant with “just a little” help…HA!…if I only knew then what I know now.)
Dr. H. assured me that he was comfortable moving ahead with treatment and only using the invasive testing such as an HSG (hysterosalpingogram – oh yeah…that one is where they put a catheter in your cervix, into your uterus and shoot dye up into your fallopian tubes. While this is happening they run an x-ray machine over your body to determine if your tubes are blocked) or other various methods only if it became absolutely necessary.
Fast forward through months of waiting due to Itchey’s Reiter’s Syndrome, one cancelled IUI cycle, two failed Letrozole and timed intercourse cycles, two failed injectable IUI cycles and numerous cycles that also failed for whatever reason. Amidst all of this, I have endured regular blood work, an unseemly number of dildo cam appointments, daily injections, an SHG (sonohysterogram – a catheter was inserted into my cervix and uterus, filling my uterus with saline. Then an ultrasound was performed at the same time with the dildo cam to look for abnormalities in my uterus) and one week ago today…the coup de grace…a hysteroscopy and endometrial biopsy. What do those procedures entail, you say? Well…let me enlighten you.
One of the things I absolutely adore about Dr. Hottie, besides his amazing bedside manner and his twinkly blue eyes, is the fact that he HATES to hurt his patients. When he told me he was recommending a hysteroscopy, I freaked a little. I’ve read accounts of people undergoing this without anesthesia and it sounded atrocious. But then he relieved my worries a tiny, tiny bit by telling me I would be put to sleep. But then about a half second later, all of the anxiety came flooding right back. For christsakes…I haven’t been put to sleep using anesthesia since I had my wisdom teeth out some twenty years ago! I was having totally irrational fears that I wasn’t going to wake up and that all of this testing would be for naught. Then Dr. H. explained what the procedure involved and it just got worse. After I was asleep, they were going to manually dilate my cervix and insert a scope with a camera on it that had extra "pockets" to insert tools if needed. If he saw any polyps or abnormalities, he was going to remove them and also take a sample of my endometrium for a biopsy. Jesus...this was the definition of invasive. He talked a little more, told me they would be calling to schedule the procedure and then Itchey and I left the appointment and got in my car. Immediately I started crying. This was not part of our plan…or should I say my plan. I did not want anyone messing around with my lady bits. I did not want any of this. But then Itchey’s calm voice of reason assured me I would be alright and that this was just helping us get one step closer to having a baby. I love that he is usually able to calm me down and bring a rational point of view to an otherwise stressful situation.
So my procedure was scheduled for Friday, June 4th. As the date slowly approached, I had a pre-op appointment with Dr. H. and a phone interview with one of the nurses at the hospital. A HUGE pet peeve of mine going into this was that everyone kept referring to the procedure as “surgery”. Now…correct me if I’m wrong, but I consider the definition of surgery to involve your body getting cut on to some degree. For my procedure, there would be NO incisions, NO cutting and NO sewing me back together again. Hence, I kept pleading with everyone to call it a procedure and not a surgery. It sounded less scary for some reason. But here’s the irony…after the procedure, after spending a morning and part of an afternoon in the hospital hooked up to like a million machines, after getting knocked out, after feeling fuzzy and weird all day, after enduring the whole crazy kit and kaboodle…I feel like I really did come out of something that was kind of a big deal. And quite honestly, I am more than happy to have it referred to as surgery.
Friday, June 4th rolled around quicker than I would have liked. I took the day off of work (duh...obviously!) and Isaac and I were up bright and early. I checked into the surgery center at 8:30am. Can I just say "Wow!" It was so nice inside. There was a fireplace and plenty of comfortable couches for people to wait on. I checked in at the front and dropped off the carrot muffins with cream cheese filling for the nurses. Call me a kiss ass...call me what ever you want. If some stupid muffins are going to get me in good with the people who are shoving their hands up my va-jay-jay, then so be it. I won't lie...they were a HUGE hit. (Yahoo...score one for Team C!) They brought me back to get me changed and all ready and then they said that Itchey could come join me when I was done ( in about 20 minutes). My nurse was Robin....who, by the way, was the BEST NURSE IN THE WORLD!!! She was so kind and gentle and she had the best southern accent! I couldn't have asked for anything/anyone better. She had me change into the hospital gear, and then she got me all hooked up to my IV and took my blood pressure, etc... She used lidocaine on the IV spot and it didn't hurt AT ALL. (Which I will admit was something I was sort of freaked out about.) Then Itchey came in and basically kept me company for the next 2-3 hours. YES...I said 2-3 hours. My surgery was scheduled for 10:30am, but kept getting pushed back because of some guys that was taking longer than they expected. I finally was taken into the operating room at about 12:15pm. They started hooking up heart monitors and such and the next thing I knew I was waking up in my little post-op area with Robin talking to me. I was SUPER crampy, but she gave me something via my IV and I felt a little better. Once I woke up a bit, they let Itchey come see me and they let me eat a few crackers and Itchey brought me a vitamin water. I took some Vicodin, and laid in the bed for awhile chatting with Itchey. The relief that this whole thing was over was AWESOME! Itchey told me that Dr. H. did find some small pieces of tissue. Not polyps...more like skin tags. So he got rid of those and also did an endometrial biopsy. I got the results from that last week and everything is A-OK. So anyways...they then told me that after I peed and got dressed I could go home. I had some bleeding and I felt pretty fuzzy. So I was moving very, very slooooooooooooooooooooooowly. Then they removed my IV, put me in a wheelchair and took me out to the car. Itchey had pulled around for me so I wouldn't have to walk. We got home and I basically spent the rest of the day and the weekend relaxing and taking care of myself. I took the Vicodin on Friday and Friday night, but by Saturday I didn't need it anymore.
Overall...no...this was not my most favorite experience in the world. But I feel like I conquered some fears and Itchey and I are one step closer to having a baby. So bring it on! What else can you throw our way? Score another point for the C family!!
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