Surgery was a Success

As mentioned in the previous post, I went in for a diagnostic outpatient surgery yesterday. I wanted to let you all know that I am doing really well afterwards and how the surgery went. For those of you that are squeamish or don't care to read about my reproductive going ons, just know that surgery went really well, I am recovering surprisingly quickly, and that the doctor was able to find and fix some things that may or may not have been hindering us in conceiving. For those that enjoy the nitty gritty details, please keep reading.

I found it surprising that October 15th was Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day (as declared by President Reagan in 1988). As most of you know, we lost our first pregnancy in February 2007 at 11 weeks, and since then have had a lot of difficulty in getting pregnant again. We currently see a wonderful Reproductive Endocrinologist, Dr. G, who has the task of helping us get pregnant. I wasn't thinking about the Remembrance Day until a family friend sent me an email. I saw it as fitting because none of us forget the pregnancies, babies, or children we lose. And this day came on the eve of a surgery intended to possibly help us get pregnant again.

I was nervous going into surgery because I've only ever had one other surgery and when I went into that surgery I was pregnant and when I came out, I was no longer pregnant, but was gifted with an unexpected raging infection. But, you see, Dr. G is a wonderful doctor: confident, proficient, conservative in practice, somewhat charming, and his goal is help us establish a successful pregnancy. Besides, he's done this surgery hundreds of times and I was and am sure that I am in incredibly capable hands with him. I was scheduled to have a diagnostic laparoscopy and hysterscopy. I actually did not have to have the hysteroscopy (where they look into your uterus with a scope) done because Dr. G had performed a sonohystogram in his office early last week. That procedure enabled him to inject saline solution into my uterus and the solution would highly define any scar tissue, cysts, fibroids, adhesions, or anything else out of place when he then used the sonogram wand to look into the uterus. As usual, my uterus looked fine (and believe you me - both the doctor and I have seen it on the sonogram screen enough times to know when it looks okay AND I've never had anything unusual in there anyway) and the doctor probably saved us some money by doing the different procedure in the office instead of the hysteroscopy while I was under anesthesia in surgery.

A diagnostic laparoscopy (and I'll provide a comprehensive link if that helps) is when the doctor makes two tiny incisions in the abdomen - one in the belly button and another right below the bikini line and is then able to insert a small scope (camera) to get a good look in there. He then fills the abdominal cavity with gas so that he can see exactly what is going on in there and so that he has room to work. For fertility purposes, the doctor is looking for endometriosis, scar tissue, cysts, fibroids, or again, anything else unusual that could be hindering my reproductive health. Almost anything he finds at this point can be fixed by cutting and cauterizing. I am then left with two tiny incisions that have to heal up. Easy peasey.

C was able to get the full explanation (with pictures!) of what the doctor found and treated and I got an abbreviated version as I was coming out from anesthesia. We really went into this surgery hoping that the doctor found something and that it was fixable, but we also knew there was a chance that he wouldn't find anything and that everything would look good - which would still leave our fertility issues unexplained. Fortunately, the doctor DID find some things and was able to treat them! First, there were about six small spots (they call them implants) of endometriosis on the top and outside of my uterus. Since the endometrial tissue is so blood laden, the doctor needed to slice the implants off and then cauterize the sights. He said these implants may or may not have contributed to our infertility, but mostly they were mild to moderate displays of endometriosis - and I was grateful they weren't any worse or in more concerning locations, such as on the fallopian tubes, bowel, or bladder. The second issue the doctor was able to fix was scar tissue (again, no idea why or how that forms) that linked my left ovary to my uterus and in the process, twisted the ovary away from the position needed to deposit a mature egg into the left fallopian tube. C said the scar tissue looked like a spiderweb (like the ones that Spiderman shoots) connecting the ovary and uterus. The doctor was able to cut out the scar tissue and cauterize the connecting sights on both the ovary and uterus. Now this issue has definitely had an impact on our fertility - the ovaries and fallopian tubes are not actually connected in the body, so transport of mature eggs is really more of a baseball game: the ovary pitches and the fallopian tube catches. In most women, there are never any issues with catching because the pitcher is dependable and all he has to do is throw the ball at the catcher and everything works wonderfully. We assume this is the case with my right ovary, but essentially, my left ovary (due to the twisting nature of the scar tissue) was pitching at first base, and in this game, there is no first baseman. See the problem?

Dr. G, C, and I were all very happy with the surgery: how quickly and easily it went, what the doctor was able to identify and fix, and my fabulous recovery. I have a post-op visit in a week or so and Dr. G said he was going to look over my chart again to come up with a new game plan. While we don't know whether or not the small amount of endometriosis had any affect on my fertility, a very real concern is that it can redevelop. Sometimes it is gone forever after surgery and sometimes it can build up again in as little as six months. The doctor did mention that we have a realistic window for an increased chance at pregnancy (with or possibly without treatments) of six to nine months, and then we may need to (non-invasively) check and see if anything (endometriosis or scar tissue) has returned. We'll find out more at that visit.

I am doing really well recovery-wise. Last night I rested and read a vampire book. I was told to take 400mg of ibuprofen every four hours and I've used our handy kitchen timer to keep track of that. The doctor prescribed percocet, but I only took two pills last night so that I could go to sleep. Slept well last night. My only small, minor complaints are a sore throat from being intubated, soreness in the shoulders from the remaining gas rising to the highest place, and this morning some slight pain at the lower incision site. The first two issues have already resolved and I am feeling good today. Just getting around slowly and resting a lot. A good friend brought by a taco lasagna today for lunch, C's boss/friend J is coming over for dinner, as are sister B and boyfriend J. C is taking excellent care of me and he's always so attentive through these things. I should just keep getting better and sometime in a week or so we should have another game plan. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers - we both really appreciate your encouragement and support.