Thursday, May 15, 2008

We Have a Surgery Date!

The polyp removal has been set for June 13th at 1 pm. I have a pre-op appointment the week before to go over everything. I'm not sure why it took so long to set it, but hopefully that's the last of problems like this.

Omigosh....typing that out, I just realized my surgery is on FRIDAY THE 13TH!!!!!!!!! Aaaaarrrgghh!!!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Finally!

Chandra finally called me this morning to go over when we were available to do the surgery. I had mentioned on the voicemail that it was either this Friday or June, because that is what she had told us the day of the sono-hystogram. But when she called, she made it sound like it we needed it that way! Ugh! I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

So, she still has to call the surgery center to see what they have available. Who knows how long it will be to get another call back!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Okay, Seriously....

Schedule the darn appointment!!!!!

No call from Chandra today either, and again, I forgot until late, so I left her a voicemail just before closing. So, hopefully, I'll remember to call her tomorrow early enough to get something done!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Schedule the Darn Appointment Already!

So I didn't hear from the nurse on Friday, and I forgot to call today until late in the afternoon, and Chandra, the nurse to schedule surgeries didn't answer, so I spoke to Vicki, who said she'd check with Chandra, and have her call me back. Ugh! It's looking like it won't be this Friday.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Sono Hystogram

The gameplan is changing. I should've known there'd be a curveball thrown in sometime.

I went in this afternoon for my sono hystogram, so Dr Pinto could get a better look at the mysterious whiteness in my uterus, and instead of figuring that out, he found a polyp instead! Of course he wants to remove it, because it could be impeding implantation of my eggs.

It'll be an outpatient surgical procedure, and apparently I will be under general anesthesia (took me a few minutes to get that, he was making it sound so minor!). The procedure itself will only be about 15-20 mins, but preparation will be like an hour and a half! He likes to do them on Fridays, to give patients the weekend to recover, so his nurse will call tomorrow to see when they can schedule me in. It'll either be next Friday, or sometime in June, because he has something else already the next 2 Fridays.

Oh, and more on the whiteness, apparently I'm a medical mystery. He can't tell what they are yet, even with today's procedure. He said they could be very small lesions or growths that are just concentrated right there (the polyp is just below it), but that it's too high up to be the scar tissue from my c-section. So, when he removes the polyp, he'll actually have some type of uterine telescope thingy in there that he can get a better look at it. Another Ugh! Hopefully it's nothing or something he can easily take care of while he's in there or nothing of concern (unless it's impeding implanation as well).

On the plus side, today's procedure was fine. I took 2 ibuprofen on the way there (about 30 mins before), there was some pressure during the procedure, but not too bad. He said I could have some minor cramping tonight, but I'm just barely feeling any right now, going to take another ibuprofen before bed though. On the down side, the saline they inject in to inflate the uterus has to go *somewhere*, so I'm going to have wet discharge for a few days. But, he gave the okay to have sex, so Yay! LOL!

Because of the polyp and needing to remove it, he didn't even look at my ovaries or discuss the HCG shot (I forgot to ask). So, I'm still temping and maybe I can tell on my own when I ovulate and we'll go ahead and take advantage of that and deal with it depending on when they schedule the surgery. Oh well.

Oh! He went over my test results again, and said everything on my end looks great! My FSH levels were 6.5 on day 10 (6.4 on day 3 - needs to be under 8), I have low cholesterol apparently (he made it sound like that was an issue? I thought that was good!) I'm a little bit anemic, so I need to take an iron supplement, but otherwise everything looks good (except for the polyp). Kevin got orders from him to get a sperm analysis, so he'll probably try to do that next week. Dr Pinto said based on what he sees so far, he isn't going to suggest we go high tech with this process, just work with the fertility drugs and maybe try insemination, but he sees no reason why those shouldn't work at this point!

I'm supposed to hear from Chandra tomorrow afternoon for scheduling the surgery, so until that happens, I guess that's it.

Oh, I almost forgot! We showed Dr Pinto and Chandra my now bruising arm, where Amy drew my blood. Even he went "Whoa!" and they talked about taking picture to show her and give her a hard time, but then never did. Let's hope it doesn't happen again!

Antibiotics

I forgot to mention that they gave me a 3 day antibiotic prescription to the day before, of and after the sono-histogram to help prevent infection. The nurse warned me that they could cause an upset stomach and to take it with a snack even though you're not supposed to take it at least 2 hours before or after a meal (no dairy or multivitamin during that time either). Twice a day.

Yesterday, I took it shortly after eating a banana, my first food for the day. My breakfast is usually light anyway. I got a little nauseous, but not too bad, and was fine when I took it in the afternoon. This morning, same thing, eat a banana, took the pill. About an hour later, I'm in the bathroom at work with a preview of what morning sickness will be like! Tomorrow I will definitely be taking it later in the morning, well after breakfast!

The procedure is this afternoon, Kevin will be there with me. I'm still hoping they can look at the follicles today and things look good. I'm going to Dr Pinto's 3rd office today, so now I'll have hit all 3!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Holy Crap!

Wow! Okay, this is freaking me out now! Even Kevin looked at it and went "Eeeeeeeew!"



I didn't look at it all day, and tonight it looks like this. I guess the movement of my arm caused the blood pool to spread out into the crease of the elbow. It's starting to bruise too.

It's just so weird, too, that it didn't hurt at all when she did the blood draw! It's a little tender and sore now (just kinda of a dull ache), but not bad. Guess I won't be wearing any short sleeved shirts for a while!

Ugh!

So, as painless as the blood draw was yesterday, I should've known it would turn out bad with all the stopping and starting and spurting trying to fill the one vial (sorry, don't mean to be gross, just trying to describe it accurately). I didn't take off the bandaid last night, even though I normally don't keep them on for more than an hour or two, but it fell off after my shower this morning, and there's not quite a dime sized pool of blood under the skin where she stuck me. Ugh!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Clomid Challenge Test Results

Today is Cycle Day 10! I had my appointment today at Dr Pinto's main office, which is much different than the Grapevine office....much more room, much more stylized decor. And a HUGE sonogram/exam room with a flat screen monitor on the wall! I guess the Infertility business pays well (insert 'duh' here).

First things first, CD3 bloodwork results. My FSH level is 6.4 - he wanted it under 8, so this is great! My estrogen level was at 25, which Amy, the nurse, said was good. Then she set me up for the sonogram and Dr Pinto came in to observe. I had 2 really good follicles, both around 14 mm, which is great - one in each ovary. She said they would probably give me an HCG shot later in the week if they continue to grow well. That way both ovaries will release and give us a better chance!

They did notice a small white-ish area in my uterus, which she said could be lesions of some sort or scar tissue from surgery (my C-Section). So, on Thursday, they want me to come in for a sono-histogram to check that out. If it is an area where the eggs are trying to implant, then it is probably preventing implantation. They'll also check my follicles again at that appointment, which will be CD 13.

Then, she took some more blood to check my FSH level again, to compare to CD 3. I should have those results on Thursday. She had some trouble getting in the vein, I think she did it too shallow, it kept stopping! But at least she didn't have to stick me again, and it was only one vial.

I've forgotten about the constant barrage of going to appointment after appointment and how hard it is to balance with work. I'm just glad to have a boss that is understanding and willing to work with me through this. Hopefully I don't have to put her through it for months upon months!