I feel vindicated

I have suspected for a long time that there has been something wrong with me reproductively. My periods have been VERY painful in the past (less so since having Ian), they're irregular, they vary in length. Even the scar tissue around my colon is something that is normal with endometriosis. Whenever I get asked "do you have regular periods" at the doctor, I say "no" and they leave it at that. I've had appointments where I've thought they were going to look further into it, and it doesn't happen. I'm in and out in five minutes.

Having my doctor now, I feel listened to. He gets that things have NOT been normal for me, that I'm having a hard time, and that something was wrong. He was the FIRST to ever mention the possibility of endometriosis. Now that I've looked up more on endo, it seems so obvious that that is what I've had going on for a LONG TIME. I'm annoyed that it has taken this long to get someone to take me seriously, but I'm also really happy that I was finally taken seriously and that I was right to think there was something wrong--it hasn't all been in my head. Everytime I've been blown off by doctors and nurses, I've been right. It's nice.



And of course I am totally thrilled that he was able to get it taken care of in the surgery and that I *should* be able to get pregnant really soon. I've read that the preference is within 6 months of a surgical removal of endo since it can come back. I'm just excited. Very sore, but excited!!

GREAT NEWS!!

I STILL HAVE BOTH TUBES!!!! Dr. said that 90% of pictures that look like mine are, in fact, a hydrosalpinx. Mine was a VERY small one, no where near what it looked like in the HSG, and he was able to unblock it with dye that he injected during the surgery. So I now have two perfect, healthy tubes. He said the reason mine looked so bad in the HSG is that I have some scaring around my colon and I guess that was pressing up on stuff? I probably have this all screwy, I was still pretty out there when he was explaining stuff.

I do have endometriosis, but he was able to cauterize all that he could see in the surgery. So the hope is that I will be a Fertile Myrtle for the next couple of months. I'm going to probably request Clomid for the two months before Hazen goes to the academy just to try and get a couple good o's in. Since I didn't o until day 30 last cycle and I seem to have not o'd yet this cycle, I'd like to know I will fairly early in the months before he goes. The doctor said all I have to do now is make a baby...but not today. :lol: We are allowed to try in 3-4 days...we'll see how I feel.

Recovery wise I feel pretty good. I'm pretty crampy and I just feel weird. The anesthesia made me throw up a couple of times (once in the car...my poor husband) and the gas they injected has my shoulders hurting pretty badly. But overall, I really can't complain.

I never in a million years would have thought I'd be leaving with TWO healthy tubes!!

Surgery day...

I am nervous. Very nervous. But I know it will be fine and that in a few months I'll FINALLY have good news to share here. So it will be worth it. ;)

Check in is in 30 minutes (6:30) and surgery is an hour later. They will start by going through my cervix and a tiny hole in my belly button to make absolute sure that the tube is hydrosalpinx (doc said with my HSG pictures, he is 90% sure that's what it is). He will also check the right tube and check for any endometriosis (he doesn't expect to find that, but figures he'll make sure while he's in there!). Then I get two more holes on my abdomen, the tube comes out, the right tube gets some dye shot through to make sure it's healthy, and I'm done. He said 15-20 minutes tops.

I will update when I'm "low" enough to do so...LOL.

Interesting tidbit

The "surgeon" is actually my doctor. I should have known that since I know he's done some procedures on some other people, but for some reason it didn't even occur to me that he might do mine, too! I feel much more comfortable now. I trust my doctor and he knows which tube is bad...I've had this horrible vision of waking up and finding out they removed the wrong tube!

Surgery Date Set

I called on Wednesday to try and talk to my doctor or nurse about setting up my salpingectomy (tube removal). I hadn't heard back, but this morning I got a call from the nurse. The surgeon who performs it has openings every Friday this month. So, on the 11th (next week) I will go in and have my tube removed. I am very nervous, but also super excited at the realization that after this, we *should* be able to have a baby. Of course, there are no guarantees, but at least the odds will be much more in our favor!

I don't know how long I'll have to wait afterwards to ttc again. We have a pre-op meeting next week, so I imagine I'll find out then.

I'm so nervous...the only surgery I've ever had is having my wisdom teeth removed.

Insurance Vent

I've been trying to figure out what kind of coverage we will have for infertility once Hazen officially joins the Bozeman police department. The apparent answer is: Not Much. I found a document that says "the plan" (this is confusing because there is a Plan A and a Plan B...doesn't specify if it's one or the other or both) doesn't cover fertility enhancing procedures. It will, however, cover one in-vitro fertilization attempt...what??? They will seriously cover a $12,000+ procedure rather than one that is less than half of that and will solve our issue? Makes no sense to me. The real irony is that most doctor's won't even let someone with hydrosalpinx attempt IVF until they have the hydro removed, due to the fact that IVF success is halved when a hyrdo is in place. But okay, let's waste 12 grand.

So, I'm working on scheduling the surgery while I still have my insurance which thankfully covers infertility. I have a call into my doctor for a referral, and hopefully I'll hear back from him soon.

Then, to top it off, the state is changing prescription drug plans. They gave us this big hoo-ra presentation on it last week, explained the classes (A, B, C, D, F and "specialty), and explained how our out-of-pocket costs would relate to that. A, B, and C are the classes you want, D and F are best to avoid, and specialty is expensive, but covered. Clomid, and it's generic counterparts, is NC: Not Covered. Not once in their schpiel did they mention that some meds would not be covered. So yeah, I am not pleased. I wrote an email asking for an explanation. My biggest issue with it is that I had no reason to believe it wouldn't be covered. I expected a "specialty" rating or something, but NC was kind of shocking.

The life of an infertile is never boring. ;)

14 days in, and this cycle is already odd

Over the weekend, I had some serious fertile signs. My CM and CP were both fertile, and my skin broke out pretty badly. I didn't think it was possible I was going to ovulate because I don't ovulate that early...ever. My earliest natural ovulation was day 18. Last cycle it was day 30. It's just not possible for me to ovulate on day 11.

Well, according to my chart, it is. And my CM and CP are both supporting it, too. I'm tempted to call my dr's office and ask for a progesterone check to see if it really happened...that might be kind of weird though. It's very bizarre.

www.fertilityfriend.com/home/b7dd7