Post Op appointment

Sorry I haven't been a good blogger and updated in awhile.  Last week was a crazy one filled with two dentist appointments, trick or treat at the command for the kids, long football nights at work, and getting called into work on my day off.  I enjoy being busy most days as long as it doesn't stress me out and by Wednesday I was pretty stressed out!  Thursday however made everything feel seem like small stuff after our visit with Dr. Swanson.

Before I get to Thursday's visit lets get into how dumb I was about my recovery!! So on day 1 of post surgery I decided it was a great idea to go visit friends.  I went and drove to 2 of my friend's houses and hung out with them.  I was pretty impressed that I was able to do this considering I had just had surgery maybe 24hrs ago.  Then on Sunday (day 2) I thought I could sit in a car for 6 hrs to pick up Preston's parents and sister at LAX.  I didn't put in account that I wouldn't be standing up or walking around for 6 hrs or the fact all the bumps in the road.  My body finally started getting ticked off at me in the evening when I starting bleeding out of no where.  So the rest of Sunday and Monday I tried to take it easy and not take car rides or extensive walking.  The rest of the week when we were on the road sight seeing with family I made sure to get up and walk when ever we stopped somewhere or sit down when we had been walking for some time.

Okay now for my Thursday visit.  Dr. Swanson went over my pictures from surgery with me and answered any questions about surgery.  I was then given the green light to start trying once my next cycle hit.  So then I started asking my millions of questions about everything.  I asked about the following:

Q: "Do I have the same percentage of chances to become pregnant like a normal couple would?"
A: No, because of my endometriosis I still will have a slight disadvantage than a normal couple.  But it shouldn't prevent me from becoming pregnant.

Q: "How many months should we try to conceive on our own before starting fertility treatments?"
A: 3-4 months of trying and if I am not pregnant we will start fertility treatments.

Q: "Will you be my doctor if I become pregnant?"
A: Yes, Dr. Swanson will be my doctor from here out (which makes us super happy!!) and tricare should cover everything since I was referred out.

Q: "Will I be considered high risk right away if I am pregnant?"
A: No, I shouldn't be high risk because of my surgeries.

Q: "When do I come back?"
A: I will come back in January if not sooner because he has high hopes that we will become pregnant before then.  In January we will start discussing fertility options if I am not pregnant just to keep the ball rolling.

Over all we were very happy with the visit and are very excited to start trying this month.  I went out last Friday and bought my ovulation tracking kit again and I need to pop out the instructions again and figure out what day I need to start the testing.  I know I shouldn't have high hopes but I know I will be disappointed at the end of this month if we are not pregnant.  I am trying to keep with the same mentality I have been for awhile that it's not going to happen.  I have to keep fighting the urge to go out and buy the book What To Expect When You Are Expecting.

On a side note I was very surprised by the flowers I received from my parents the day after surgery and even more surprised and impressed by the surgical hospital get well card they sent me.  Every person that had to deal with me on the day of surgery wrote kind words to me in the card.  I seriously almost cried because I was so touched by their kindness.  I understand it is probably protocol for them to send each of their patients a card but I was just touched by it.

Well that is all for now.  I will continue to blog but depending on how things go I might be silent for a bit.  Hoping for some baby dust coming my way!

(Flowers from my parents.  The bottom two are still alive!)

(Card from Fresno Surgical Center)

-Kate

Surgery number 2

Well it has been well over 24hrs since my surgery and I feel that I am with it enough to write a post about how things went.  Unlike last time after surgery where I think I was still groggy and left major events out in my post.

I felt really great the day of my surgery minus a super full bladder that I couldn't wait to empty!  I always think its funny that I need to give an urine sample before surgery to make sure I am not pregnant.  I mean if I were pregnant in the first place I wouldn't be needing these surgeries.  But I understand that it is procedure they have to do.  But back to the part where I was feeling good about surgery.  It was so nice walking into the hospital and being greeted by people who were smiling and kind and not people who looked beyond annoyed that I walked in and interrupted their conversation.  I had amazing nurses help me get ready for everything.  They put warm blankets on my arms in order to help raise my veins for my iv.  My anesthesiologist was cracking me up from the moment I met him telling me I was his next victim.  Dr. Swanson came and saw me before I was taken into surgery and asked how I was feeling.  Preston even mentioned to me afterwards he could see how much of a difference there was from this surgery and the last one.  Normally I am a nervous wreck running in and out of the bathroom until they are ready to take me back.

My surgery went very well!  Dr. Swanson came out to the lobby to talk with Preston when he was done and also gave him a copy of pictures from the surgery.  He was able to shave down the septum in my uterus and everything looks normal now in there and is ready for a pregnancy.  He did not find any big endometriosis that he needed to laser off because Dr. Ta did a great job of taking as much of it off as possible in June.  He did find another chocolate cyst on my right ovary.  He wasn't sure if it was left over from my surgery in June or not.  Never the less he took it out for me and my right ovary is clear now.  He shook Preston's hand and told him good luck and we should be able to become pregnant now.

I of course don't remember much from waking up from surgery but the one thing I do remember is shaking uncontrollably.  Not too sure why that is but I am sure during my follow up next week I will ask Dr. Swanson and he can let me know.  I went into surgery at around 9:40 AM and got out at 11:30 AM.  I did not get to leave until almost 4PM.  All I remember is that I kept asking for Preston and they would say "he will be back in a little bit".  Finally I went to stage 2 of recovery and I was propped up in a recliner(I honestly don't remember how I got there lol).  Again once I got there I asked again when do I get to see Preston and I was told once I drank water, peed, and got my discharge papers.  At this point I was starving and wanted to go home.  So when I was given the opportunity to use the restroom I took it and went.  I was prescribed vicodin for pain and some sort of estrogen pill.  Not too sure what the estrogen pill is for but we think it's to help the healing process in the uterus?   I will have to call in on Monday to set up a post op appointment with Dr. Swanson next week.  During that visit I need to ask him what is a realistic time span to try to conceive on our own and not jumping the gun to start IUI.  I want to make sure 3 months is enough time to try or should we try longer.

I was very groggy and out of it yesterday and would fall asleep for an hour here and an hour there.  Last night I had a very restless sleep and kept waking up.  Mind you I decided it was a great idea to not take any pain meds because I really didn't hurt.  So at around 4AM I couldn't take the constant waking up because I was uncomfortable and just got up.  I went downstairs and propped myself up on the recliner and caught up on my dvr recordings.  At one point my should and ribs hurt so bad that I caved in and took a pain pill.  I still haven't slept and have been kind of blah all day.  I am slowly getting my appetite back after Preston kept pushing me to eat and drink.  Overall I feel pretty good the only real pain I have is my right shoulder and and right ribs they hurt very bad when I try to lay down.  So for now I will stick to pain pills if I am in a lot of pain and hopefully tonight I will be able to sleep.  I've probably over done it on my first day after surgery by be up and moving around so much today.

Well that is all for now.  I will update my blog after my post op appointment later this week.

-Kate

Please let this work!

Well after a lot of thinking and weighing options we opted for the surgery rout.  I finally got ahold of the nurse and asked her a few questions.  She said the shots have great results if they work.  But there is no guarantee that it will work at all.  We were also informed that if our insurance did not cover the shots they would be $550 a shot and we would be doing 6 months worth of shots.  So the only real difference is that the shots could minimize or get rid of my endometriosis and the surgery will laser off any endometriosis that has came back plus take care of any cysts that are developing.  So instead of waiting 6 months to find out if the shots worked and having a surgery to see if everything worked correctly seemed like a big risk to me.  Not to mention the cost of shots if we had to pay that amount.

I am feeling really good about our decision.  I never want to have surgery but in this case I am kind of excited to have this surgery.  I will be having surgery on Friday, Oct. 18th in Fresno.  It should be completely different experience that the last surgery.  Hopefully I wont be crying before I go into surgery because someone can't figure out how to get a blood sample from me.  There is no down time after surgery and we can try as soon as we want.  I do however have to take it easy a few days after surgery just like last time.  I want to try naturally for a few months and see what happens.  Here is to hoping that after all this we can be like everyone else and just get pregnant without any help.  If not I have agreed to Preston that we will try IUI after 3 months.  He really wants us to do IUI right away because he is eager to start a family (not that I am not just as eager but I want things to be as normal as possible).

Well that is all to report for now.  Maybe I will make Preston write the next post so my surgery info afterwards actually makes sense lol! If not there will be a two part post one that doesn't make much sense and then another one that actually makes sense.


-Kate

Dr. visit update

Well I finally was able to meet our new doctor on Tuesday.  He was wonderful and treated me with respect.  I felt like he is all in with helping us get to our end goal starting a family.  He wants to tackle both problems (the endo and the septum) right away.  He gave us two different game plans that we can choose from.

Option 1: Get lupron injections for 6 months to help get rid of the endometriosis.  During that 6 month span he will have me come in for check ups to make sure the meds are working correctly.  Also at some point I will have surgery to get rid of the septum in my uterus.  So around March we will be able to start trying to start our family again.  There is no down time after the septum surgery.

Option 2: While doing the septum surgery he lasers off any endometriosis and or cysts he sees during surgery.  Then we start trying again.  Not sure of the down time after this surgery.

I know there are some pretty crazy side effects for lupron.  I asked my dr about the weight gain, hair loss, hot flashes, depression, and insomnia.  I am sure I am missing A LOT of other side effects but those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.  He said he prescribes lupron to many of his patients who are dealing with endometriosis and has never had any of those side effect reported besides hot flashes.

So we chose to do the lupron for 6 months.   It sounded like the best shot at getting rid of the endometriosis.  The nurse came in and explained to us that sometimes health insurances will not cover this treatment and that could cost a couple hundred dollars per shot.  She will be calling me sometime next week to let me know if our insurance will cover these injections.  I was given permission to have the injections sent to our house and I can have a nurse at the OB/GYN clinic on base give me my injections.

Well after over 24hrs to let things sink in I may have changed my mind about everything.  I am really scared to get the injections.  I don't want to change or feel crappy every day for 6 months.  I started to research online for data on how successful lupron is and I really can't find the data.  I keep getting links to chat forums.  I read more about the pain they have a few days after injections.  Headaches and heartburn.  Women who have to be on anti depressants to help with the side effects.  And then the very few and far between women who have had positive results with lupron.  I am worried that after 6 months that my period wont come back.  I also feel if I have surgery for my septum and get any endometriosis that has grown back laser off that we can start trying sooner.  I just want to know which option is truly the better option for our situation.  Tomorrow I will call the doctors office and ask to speak to the nurse and see if I can get some answers.  If there is no real percentage difference between the two options I will opt with option number 2 and see when the soonest date I can schedule my surgery.

-Kate

World's Best Husband

I have to say I do have the world's best husband in my books.  Preston was a work when I received the call for the canceled doctors visit so I had to text him what was going on.  He told me at first he thought I was just joking with him because the last doctor we went to they canceled on us not even 24hrs before our appointment.  Once he realized it wasn't a joke he wanted Dr. Swanson's number right away to ask why my appointment was canceled.  When I didn't respond to his text messages or phone calls ( I was taking a shower during that time ) he came home from work to check on me and get the phone number.  I told him he had to be nice to who ever he spoke to on the phone because they didn't cancel on us on purpose and they really don't know our story.  Long story short he spoke to someone and they were magically able to get us in next Tuesday.  Why on earth I wasn't offered this date originally I have no idea and at this point I don't care.  All I know is that am very appreciative of my loving husband who always wants the best for me!  Needless to say I am in a a better frame of mind right now unlike earlier today.  

So stay tuned for next weeks post.  Unless they cancel again...ugh.

-Kate

 

An all time low

So I have been on this high this month knowing I had would be going to my doctor's appointment and finally get things moving again.  Well that all just came to a halt.  I just got a phone call a few mins ago from the doctors office to cancel my appointment.  The next date the had open was October 22nd.  I was in shock that yet again my doctor appointment is being canceled.  I somehow found it in me to speak up and ask if there were any sooner dates than that.  She then asked what it was again that I was needing to see the doctor.  My mind raced and I tried not to scream at her.  I told her I have a septum in my uterus and that my doctor on base has referred me out months ago.  I then said please we have been trying for 3 years to start a family I don't want to wait any longer.  The next available date is October 17th.

So now I am here writing this post and bawling my eyes out trying to figure out why do these things keep happing to me.  I am mentally at the point where I can't handle this any more.  I don't understand what I did to deserve this.  I can't handle this any more.  Why am I driving myself crazy about starting a family that I have no idea if I can even have one.  But it's the one thing I've always wanted.  I feel dead inside when people talk about the love that they have for their children.  Its just so empty knowing I don't or will never have that feeling.  Well I need to go get ready for work and put on a fake smile.

-Kate

Happy 3 years!

Well our journey has now officially entered into our 3rd year.  I was never the girl who imagined that we would become pregnant right after our wedding.  I thought maybe halfway through our 1st year or later we would announce our 1st child would be born with some really cute way hence my Pinterest page has a spot dedicated to cute and fun baby announcements.  If I had things going my way we would be trying for our 2nd child by now.  

I haven't written much lately because there is nothing really to report.  I am finally seeing my new doctor next week.  I again don't have high hopes on the visit.  I do however want him to do an ultra sound to make my anxiety go away.  Every time I have the slightest cramp I start to freak out and think I have a cyst again.  Just because Dr. Ta removed the last two and I was on birth control for the last 3 months doesn't mean I don't have them growing again.   We all know that the last time we tried to control the cysts the birth control didn't stop them from growing.  Also with all this time between drs I have been reading online about how women who have endometriosis have changed their diet to gluten free or vegan to help with endo. I am going to ask my dr about this and see if their is any truth to a change of diet.  If so I am going to be changing my diet drastically.  I will go vegan so I am able to have children!!

If things do really workout with this new dr here are how I see things playing out:
-September 19th consultation and possible ultrasound
-October ultrasound and testing for septum in the uterus
-Late October or November surgery for septum
-January get the green light to start trying again

-OR- 

We find out that the septum isn't really bad and we can go ahead and start trying again.Wouldn't that be nice?  I would probably be mad if we found out that this entire time we could of been trying.  Our plan once we are given the green light is to try a few months naturally before I start adding fertility drugs again.  I want to see if I can do it on my own after the modifications my body had have done to it.

Well that is all for now.  I will write another post once I have any new information.

-Kate