November 5th - Follow up apt.

So we had the follow-up appointment to go over all the results and see what happens next. As we have found out along the way, the results from all the tests were normal. The Hysteroscopy was normal and so was the biopsy that accompanied it. Sooo... what I thought would be next is the Hysterosalpingogram, but my Doctor actually does it a little different. He actually does a laparoscopic surgery in through the belly button and will do a D&C along with putting dye in the fallopian tubes to see if there is any blockage and can remove the blockage at that time if there is.
We have that scheduled for me on December 17th. So for this month, he said we keep up with the ovulation test strips. My LMP is now November 4th, so we can try November, but if this isn't the month, then December will probably be a loss, because of the procedure in the middle of the month. But hopefully we will get good results from this surgery.

Hysteroscopy

I had the Hysteroscopy done on Wednesday October 22nd. My appointment was at 2:30 in the afternoon right in the office. I had to go there at 2:00 to start some non-sedating medication called Toradol. What a lovely shot in the buttocks! Of course I would've taken that anyday over the actual procedure I was about to go through. The Doctor had some delays due to a c-section that he had to peform. The schedule went as follows:

1:35 - Arrived at Dr's office (I know, just a little early for my 2:00/2:30 apt.)
2:00 - was told that there Dr is running behind, still has to do another hysteroscopy and also would have to go to c-section at any moment and it would take 45 minutes.
2:30 - Dr. wasn't in c-section yet, just finished up hysteroscopy and would take me into the room to start my meds.
2:35 - received the Toradol shot, undressed and laid on bed.
2:40 - nurse comes and tells us that Dr. went to c-section, will be back in 45. We can either go into the waiting room or stay in this room and relax. Since I was already undressed, I chose to just stay here in this room.
3:45 - Dr and nurse charge into room. Okay they probably didn't charge in, but since I had dozed off, it startled me!
3:50 - Start procedure.

The first part of the procedure when he had me do some coughing so he could take some samples for biopsy was bearable. Yes it hurt, but I've gone through enough of that in the past year with cervical biopsy, I knew what to expect. And then for this next step, he said I would have some cramping for about "couple minutes" while he looked with the scope. He had the TV turned on and pointed out to me that I could watch along. I could start to see him go up the cervix towards the fundus if the uterus and then Oh. My. God. I had the worst cramp, contraction, pain, whatever you want to call it. I normally try to minimize my pain reaction, so that they can continue to do the test that is needed, but not this time. My reaction couldn't be held back. I winced in pain and he could tell that it was pretty genuine. He was probably in the top of my uterus MAYBE 10 seconds and then was out. I appreciate him for that 10 seconds compared to the "couple minutes" that he first mentioned. I just couldn't take the pain, I couldn't hold back my reaction at all. The reaction kind of reminded me of when I was in labor. I didn't care what my reacion was, I was going to let myself handle this pain however I see fit.
So when that was finally removed, the cramping went away. It was just nerves that bothered me now. I got dressed and then we headed out.
We made an appointment 2 weeks from that day, to go over all the testing and results that he have had in the last month. Which brings us to this Wednesday. My appointment is at 3:30 pm. Im pretty sure all the results of everything are fine, which means that we will probably be moving on to the next step of testing. The hysterosalpingogram (HSG). Which is where they inject radiating dye into the fallopian tubes and can see by Xray if it flows through the tubes or if there is blockage in the tubes, then the dye won't flow all the way through. If there is blockage then they put pressure on that with the dye to push the blockage out. I heard from a from a friend that had this done, that it is painful to go through. But her doctor also told her that this isn't as painful as the hysteroscopy. So her Doctor had her do the HSG before the hysteroscopy. She had great results from this test too. She did have a small blockage and they were able to pass that right on through the tubes and she was able to get pregnant in 2 months!!
So, I'll let you know what is next in our plans, after this Wednesday's appointment!

"Other" lab work that was done

Hubby had his Semen Analysis done on Tuesday October 7th and everything came back on that within normal limits. It was probably a better experience for him than what we had imagined. He got to "the deed" at home in the morning and then drive to the hospital lab to drop it off there. The requirements were:

• "it" had to be in a glass container - we used a baby food jar, lol
• "it" had to be shielded from daylight - we wrapped the jar with foil
  
• "it" had to stay at room temp - he kept the bottle between his legs on the way to the hospital lab.
• "it" had to be at the lab within 30 minutes - so we timed things out right that he would do the deed, go to the lab, and then off to school.

Sounds complicated, huh? It was kinda. But I think it made it worth it to be able to this at home, rather than in some Doctor's office.

And the hubs was very happy to see that the lab report came back good. He "knew" his boys were good. LOL!

Blood Work

So on Sunday evening I went up to the hospital and got my blood work done for my Thyroid levels and Hormone levels. They were all within normal limits.

• FSH: 6.4 (4-13 are normal limits for follicular phase)
• TSH Reflex Testing (Thyroid): 2.96 (0.38-5.0)
• Prolactin: 13.6 (4.8-23.3)
  

Although the FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) was on the lower end of the normal limits. I'm not sure if my Dr. will look at that and say that its normal, so thats not the problem, or if he will look at it an say, "Well it is kinda on the lower end of the spectrum, lets put you on some hormonal drugs." I will just have to wait and see.

Oh and of course I've got battle wounds to show for. I always have a hard time when I need to give blood for labwork. I have really small veins and I always tell them to use the pediatric butterfly needles. I just have better luck with those. But still had to be poked 4 times. The final draw ended up being on top of my hand. Seems to be common place these last few years! Ouch! It hurts and always leaves a big bruise too.

New week of testing

I love how you expect Aunt Flo to come and visit on a certain day and she doesn't tell you that she thought she would come a week later. Yeah this whole past week had me going crazy, taking pregnancy tests like every other day. Then finally she came knocking on the door Friday morning. So for the record, 10/3/08 is the latest LMP.
Sooooo, that means today, Sunday, I have to get my blood work done to check my thyroid and hormone level. I'll be bringing that in tonight when I come back into work at 6:30pm. Hopefully they will even post my results and I can check to see if they are normal. Not sure how long it takes for each test to run. I will also be scheduling Tony's special appointment too. Hopefully they can have him drop off sampling on Tuesday or Wednesday morning.
So as soon as I know any results, I will post them.
Also, since i just started my period, I can kinda guess that I might ovulate around October 19th. With having my Hysteroscopy scheduled on October 22nd, is that going to mess up conceiving for this month?? Are we gonna be throwing a month away? I understand its just one month and the benefits of having it done, but maybe that procedure should be done before I ovulate. Just so it doesn't interupt anything that is going on up there. Know what I mean?? But I'm pretty sure that was the soonest that they could get me in for that procedure. So the only other option would be to delay it until right after the next period. I guess I can call the office and see what they think. They will probably be thinking, "You haven't gotten pregnant for 12 months, what makes you think this month is so special?" LOL! Wel nothing is special about this month, except that it could be THEE month. It could be THEE right combination lined up on the right day, yadda, yadda, yadda. Anyways, I guess I will give the doctors office a call and see what they think.

Into the testing we go.

So I haven't written all summer, but the same has been going on. No preggo yet. Remember that abnormal pap that I had back in April? Well Dr. did a colposcopy, to take a sample of the tissue, to see what grade of significance this might be. It came back negative. YEAH! So now I think we are back to square on having 3 normal paps in a row. Next one is scheduled for October, I beleive. Dr. also set up our appointment to go over infertility testing for Sept 18th. That brings us to today.

LMP: 8/23/08
Dr. set up a few tests that we are doing in the first step of tests.

• Pelvic Ultrasound - to see if there are any abnormalities within the Uterus and Ovaries.
• Thyroid and Hormonal Labs - blood labs to be drawn on the 3rd day of my period to see how my hormonal levels are.
  
• Hysteroscopy - to check the endometrial lining of my Uterus.
• Semen Analysis - to see what sperm count is with hubby.

I just had the Ultrasound this morning and everything looks okay with that. Just a little bit of free fluid behind the Uterus, which is normal and common. I *should* be starting my period sometime next week, so I'll get those blood labs drawn then. Dr. wanted the Hysteroscopy to be done in 2 weeks, but the first available isn't for 4 weeks on October 22nd. Bummer! And hubby will have to try to make an appointment with the lab to drop off his sample within 30 minutes of producing it. Thats gotta have some perfect timing I guess! Hope that times out well.

Dr. says that if these tests all come back normal, we would move into doing a Hysterosalpingogram. Which inserts dye into your fallopian tubes to see if there is blockage in them. They watch this under fluroscopy and usually the dye that is force in the tubes will clean out any blockage if there is any there. Sounds painful and usually is, but I know the Xray tech that does this procedure at the hospital and she actually had this done herself a year ago. But we will worry about that when that time comes. Thats if all 4 of these tests come back normal.

So maybe we will get the Ultrasound report and blood drawn lab results back by the end of next week. I'll update when something changes.

Blogging the cycles

I've decided to start this blog to keep track of how this infertility journey is going. Just so we can look back on it one day and see where we come from once we do get pregnant.

To be honest, I'm not overly upset or frustrated anymore with not getting pregnant. Yes, I want to be pregnant right now, but I think just knowing that we have one biological child is putting my mind at ease. We do want more children, obviously. So if we can't more biologically, then we are pretty sure that we will want to adopt. Either way, we still plan to have a family of four... or five. :)

err...

lmp: 5/17/08

thats all i have to say about that.

i hope this is the month.

any day now i should be starting my period. i hate waiting to know. i want to just take a test, but afraid i'm gonna jinx it.
i hope this is the month.
hubs birthday is this saturday and i will probably take one then. what a great bday present for him, if i am pregnant.
i hope this is the month.
i had cramps last friday evening and thought i would be starting. but nothing yet, and its been almost a week since any cramps.
i hope this is the month.
there are a lot of exciting things going on right now. selling our house (hopefully), hubs getting a contract (hopefully), and trying to get pregnant (hopefully).
i hope this is the month.

lmp:4/10/08
edc:1/15/09 (if preggo)

answer to my issue... well sorda...

i got the call last week from my doctors office and they said that we can go ahead with still trying to get pregnant. they said the pap came back "atypical" but wasn't as bad as last year in april when I first got my abnormal one. so I guess dr. vendola wasn't too worried about it. my next appointment is in july which we will be looking at fertility issues if I'm not pregnant by then.

which is my next issue. we've been trying to get pregnant for 8 months now with no success. only took two months with my first child. we just started using the ovulation test strips this month and i'm on day 21 with no positive reading yet!! doesn't everyone ovulate when they have normal cycles? my cycles are normally around 32 days, so you'd think i would have ovulated by now. well, i guess now we'll see what comes first, a postive ovualtion test, a positive pregnancy, or a visit from aunt flo.