DISCLAIMER: Any blog posts titled "Operation Jellyman Kelly" will no doubt gross you out. These posts will describe our current treatments for infertility...so if you have a weak stomach or don't know how you'd have a conversation with me in person after reading this....stop reading now. ; )
We did it.
We finally did it.
After 5 years of trying to conceive…we finally got ourselves through the door of the Center for Fertility and Endocrinology and had our first consultation with Dr. T.
I’d been dreading the appointment all day.
What would he ask us?
Would he criticize my husbands sperm?
Would he take one look at my possibly blocked right fallopian tube and show me the door?
I wondered if he would ask us how much we were willing to do and pay to have a baby of our own.
I thought about how I’d answer that.
“So…did somebody refer you?” Dr. T asks as we sit down in his office.
I tell him my OBGYN referred me to this office several years ago…that we’re just now following up.
In truth, my OBGYN referred us here 4 years ago…and 4 years ago….we ended up at the wrong hospital for our first appointment, showed up late at the right office (this office) only to find they had given our appointment away. When asked if we wanted to fill out some paperwork and schedule another appointment, my husband and I took a look around the full waiting room, said no thanks and ran like hell.
“So Dr. Ann referred you….must have been before she retired.” he says without any expression.
I laughed. For some reason I found that statement pretty amusing. My OBGYN retired before we got ourselves to this appointment.
“Well, we were hoping it would happen naturally.”
No reaction from Dr. T.
“Are there any medical issues on either side?” he asks, getting back to business.
I tell him about my HSG results 4 years ago; left fallopian tube good, right fallopian tube possibly blocked.
We tell him about my husband's semen analysis done 4 years ago as well and that there were some morphology issues.
Dr. T starts taking notes.
My husband and I sit there…quiet…not really knowing if we should try to fill the awkward silence (and it is....extremely awkward)...
Dr. T pushes himself back from his desk and turns his chair toward a cabinet. He returns to the desk with booklets that have drawings of the vagina, uterus, sperm, etc.
I want to say, “Nice! We get to talk about sex AND look at dirty pictures…” but somehow I don’t think Dr. T would appreciate it so I don’t.
He walks us through the process of natural conception.
I nod as if it was all new information.
“So…let me tell you what options you have….”
He ran through a list of treatments, starting with the low-cost (and lower success rate) treatments all the way up to the high-cost (and higher success rate) treatments.
Clomid.
Clomid and artificial insemination.
Low dose of Clomid with FSH injections and artificial insemination.
FSH injections and artificial insemination.
IVF.
I have more questions about my possibly blocked fallopian tube and Dr. T tells me the only way to really see what’s going on with the tubes is to do exploratory surgery. A laparoscopy.
My instincts tell me to elect the surgery as a starting point.
I’ve suspected for some time that I may have endometriosis because of the pain I experience with my periods.
I tell Dr. T I want to do the surgery.
My husband seems surprised.
“How soon would you like to schedule it?” Dr. T asks.
“Yesterday.” I say.
And just like that, we schedule my first fertility-related surgery.
Until my surgery (which is 2 days before my 31st birthday), I’m surprised to learn I need to take birth control pills.
Seems a little counter-productive….but they’re the experts. ; )
We thank Dr. T and the wonderful staff and leave with a renewed hope that one day…..
one day we’ll have our family.
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