HSG results

Hydrosalpinx (big ugly dilated looking thing on the left side of the screen) on the patient's right side, and an occluded tube on the left (my left tube is patent and resembles the tubes on the picture below).


Normal HSG with both tubes patent

I had my HSG this morning. It was not painful initially until they injected the dye, and then it was very painful. Alot of cramping which persisted until about an hour and a half after the procedure and oddly enough radiating down my leg. I didn't freak out about that too much since I used to have extremely painful periods and would have that same leg pain, it was more of an annoyance than anything really. I came home, put my heating pad on my belly and took some motrin. I laid there wishing I would just throw up since the doxycycline is not sitting well on my stomach and unfortunately I still have alot of doses left to take!

Last time I had an HSG (2006) it showed my right side was blocked or a hydrosalpinx. I was sent for an ultrasound which didn't show much so we continued on with my cycle. It was explained to me at that time that they believed it was a blocked tube or they would have expected to see more of a dilated tube on ultrasound. If it had been a hydrosalpinx, there would be a lower chance of pregnancy, and a higher risk of miscarriage if pregnancy did occur. This was because in a hydrosalpinx there is fluid that leaks from it which can make it hard for an embryo to implant, and could contain debris or other harmful things which could be detrimental to a fetus. Luckily, I got pregnant, and delivered Jack at 37 6/7 weeks. No complaints here!

So today when I went in, I prayed that our HSG would be no different than it had been last time. Well, I could see on the screen that my right tube looked bigger. Uh oh. I heard Dr. M and the radiologist talking about a hydro. Great. I got dressed, went out to meet Dr. M and he showed me my pictures which indeed showed a hydrosalpinx on the right. He said they are sure it is a hydrosalpinx. I asked what that meant for us and he reiterated the things we already know about a lower chance of pregnancy, higher risk of miscarriage, and then added, "but you've gotten pregnant with it before and had a full term baby." So he thinks I should be ok. I felt torn leaving him because I could in theory be ok, but what if I'm not. Our plan was that we weren't going to do this again if this cycle fails. Do I want to risk it on this problem tube?

I came home and looked up a few things on it, specifically pregnancy rates, etc in some studies. 40% in the control group vs. 19.65% in the hydrosalpinx group...50% less chance. If you think about it, we did get pregnant before, but would I have allowed them to try a cycle on me if I knew it was for sure a hydrosalpinx???? Probably not, I probably would have elected to have it removed or ligated. Archie and I were discussing it when I got home, and he doesn't want to delay our cycle further, if we do, we'll be looking at procedures around Christmas this year and that's no good. I understand his thought process for sure, I don't want to delay it either, I'm excited and ready to go now! But I also don't want to waste what might be our last cycle.

After obsessing over this quite a bit, I called our IVF nurse (Sonya) and told her I was sorry to bother her with the thoughts in my mind, but I just don't know what to do or think about this. She asked if Archie had done his analysis and I told her he was going to do it tomorrow (appt in the AM). She told me that we have to have a follow up appointment anyway, so to call and schedule the appointment for next week, and we could discuss it further with Dr. M then and if we still didn't feel good about proceeding with our cycle we could decide about how to take care of it at that point. There are a few different ways to "take care of it" including tying the tubes, ligating or removal of the tube completely. Some of it can be done laparoscopically (sp?) and we could probably proceed with our cycle in December.

If you remember, I had planned this whole thing with the thought of using the last part of my maternity leave for a Disney vacation for Jack. If we don't do this until January, I will be pregnant when we go to Disney or we'll be going at Thanksgiving time (my holiday to work next year). I know we shouldn't plan like that, but I was planning like that because I am an infertile and since I can't get pregnant on my own, it is a perk to knowing when you may or may not be getting pregnant. So sue me!

I guess we'll see what Dr. M has to say next week. I'm a little depressed about it definitely being a hydrosalpinx, but I'm trying not to let it put a damper on things.

Day 3 Screen (updated)

Ok, so it's not day 3 of my cycle. Today should have in theory been day 1, however, my cycle is rarely "normal". I think when we started charting to try to conceive the first time I found that I had cycles ranging from 23-35 days. Granted it's not as wonky as some charts I've seen, but I had never really noticed how irregular the length of my cycles was. It's been better since having Jack, I pretty much stick to a cycle of 27-28 days, except this month. Like I said, today should have been day 1, but instead, it is day 4, LOL. Yup, my period showed up 3 days early this time around, which means I will have two of them in October. Yippee!

Anyway, Tuesday morning I went for my cycle day 3 bloodwork and ultrasound. Fun stuff right there, I had just begun to forget! Anyway, no doubt my prolactin will be high again (it was with our last cycle consistently with the screen and the actual cycle month, and they think this is my new norm since it was normal on the first go around) since the bloodwork is supposed to be fasting but I had to work all night, and thus, snack and eat throughout the night. They said if it is really off they will just recheck it. My nurse was out of the office yesterday afternoon so I am waiting for a phone call from her with my lab results which I will post when I know. The great news is that my ultrasound showed my ovaries looked normal! This is great news because I know with our first cycle, I had to be on lupron a long time thanks to a cyst that didn't want to go away. I am hoping the ultrasound looks the same next month so this doesn't drag out.

Next Tuesday is my next step-my HSG. I seem to remember being really uncomfortable with this last time. I can't say it was really painful although it had it's moments (thanks to a blocked tube they insisted on trying to force fluid through), but it was just more uncomfortable trying to move around on an x-ray table with all that going on. I'm sure it will be fine though. I hope everything looks normal and we get a green light for next cycle!

I probably won't post until next week simply because I'm working or signed up for overtime almost everyday between now and the HSG anyway, and our work computers don't allow me to post on blogger, just read it! Please pray for the HSG to yield normal results for me!

***Update*** Our nurse called and all of my labwork was normal including my prolactin!!! It was 4.4 and this time before our second cycle it was 9.8, so I'm happy!

IUI possible?!?!

I heard back today from the IF nurse coordinator. She said that our fertility specialist will consider doing IUI if the numbers are right. Well, if it is in our control they will be. I started on Royal Jelly, Bee Pollen, Honey, and bee propolis tonight, and ordered Fertilaid for Men for Archie which he will start as soon as it arrives. The bee products are shown to be helpful with immune system support, egg quality (perfect since mine is ever declining), anti-inflammatory properties, and anti-viral properties. Fertilaid for Men has been shown to increase sperm count, morphology and motility. It's loaded with things that have been proven to help sperm like zinc, and other minerals.

The IF nurse told me that we would need to schedule a follow up with our RE, and get the regular bloodwork done (FSH, LH for both of us, estrogen, progesterone, etc for me), and that then we could schedule another semen analysis, and I would probably need another HSG since it's been about a year. The Fertilaid takes about 2-3 months for optimal results because sperm production takes about that long. So, my plan is to make the appointment after Archie has been on the Fertilaid for about a month. Hopefully the appointment we get will be about a few weeks after that. Then by the time he schedules his testing, he should be right around the 2 month mark of taking the supplements. We can go from there.

Hopefully things will look better for both of us, and our doctor will give us the go ahead to try IUI a few times. With any luck, we'll get pregnant.