Friday, April 20, 2012

The Plan, Stan

We have a new plan set out with our new RE. I really can't believe I'm back into this, but I have new hope with this new doctor. He really knows his stuff, and he doesn't have the God complex Dr D did. I got back in to see him on Monday, and this time Hubs was able to skip out of work early to go with me.

Dr H completely agreed to the plan I had asked about last week, which was to have him perform a hysteroscopy to ensure that Dr D isn't hiding anything. He reiterated in this appointment how disappointed he is that the images from January were "lost", and that he agrees with us, that just doesn't happen. Either Dr D is negligent, or he's hiding something, but we're going to find out which.

Our plan is this:
  1. Get me up to 2000 mg of metformin over a 4-week period -- guess what? I'm already there baby! I am handling the metformin so well I upped the dose after the first few days, then I upped it again a few days later, and then I upped it again a couple of days ago. In less than a week and a half, I was up to 2000 mg. I have a little nausea, but not enough to be completely uncomfortable.
  2. Let this cycle run its course on the metformin. No monitoring, no injections, nothing. We just want to see if the metformin does its job on its own.
  3. Hysteroscopy is scheduled for May 24th.
  4. Depending on what Dr H finds, we will either jump into a medicated cycle or a go through suppression for endo.
All of the above is assuming that he doesn't get in there and find that Dr D screwed me over. So there are four possible outcomes:
  1. He finds nothing, and we start medicated cycles.
  2. He finds endometrial growths that are inhibiting potential implantation.
  3. He finds something Dr D did that he can't fix.
  4. He finds something Dr D did that he can fix.
Now, in regard to #2, when I told Dr H that my cycles tend to last 10-14 days, he got a concerned look on his face and said one possibility for the long cycles is endometrial growths inside the uterus. He showed me a picture of what he was talking about, again, no other doctor has ever discussed that possibility with me. I didn't even know that could happen! I won't go into hairy details, but if that is our problem, we are looking at 3-6 months of medications that will suppress the growths, during which time, we will not be able to try getting pregnant.

But let's assume we end up with #1, he finds nothing. We will then begin medicated cycles, and if we have two perfect cycles that should have resulted in a pregnancy, but did not, then he will want to do another laparoscopy to go in and take a very close look at the fallopian tubes. Again, I won't go into details, but he showed me pictures of a tube that looked perfectly normal at first glance, but upon really high magnification, it showed that endometriosis had swollen the ends so badly, they could not pick up eggs. If that is the case with me, it will depend on how badly swollen they are as to whether or not anything can be done. If they are too swollen to repair, then our last option for a baby would be IVF.

CRAZY, right?! How is it that I have been to four REs in 5 years and this is the first time since 2007 that I have had information overload? I should have had information overload like this with Dr D a long time ago. I'm happy we've got a new doctor who knows his stuff, and pissed that I wasted so much time with an imbecile.

As for possibilities #3 and 4, well, if they happen, Dr D will be hearing from my lawyer. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about that.

The most important thing about all of this though is that while I would love to have another baby, I won't die if I don't. My world won't crumble. I have Baby Bean. (Who, by the way, pointed at the fourth chair at our dinner table the other night and again said, "someone's missing.") But I will keep trying until I either get pregnant, or Dr H tells us we've reached the end of our road. Hopefully it is because of the former. ;)

11 comments:

Heather said...

Honestly, sometimes I wonder how your life is so complex and crazy (and this coming from ME lol)...but I sure do love your tenacious nature! xx

*Jess* said...

second opinions rock! I'm so glad you have a new RE!

Life Happens said...

I hope you can go with option 1 and start the cycle!!

Journey Girl said...

Wow, what a difference an RE makes! I will, of course, be reading along and taking every breath with you, keep us updated, okay?

Kahla said...

So happy you have found an new RE that 1) you like and 2) sounds pretty awesome and obviously knows his stuff! Praying for outcome #1, followed quickly by outcome #4 - a very big belly 9 months later! <3

Potters said...

Yay, for a better RE. It's great that you are able to learn new things through this RE. I hope the things you learn will take you where you want to be. I hope that Baby Bean is right and that someone else will be here sooner than later.

Alex said...

I love this plan! I think no matter what happens, that at least you'll be able to say after all this that you left no stone unturned. Hope you get some answers soon!!!

twondra said...

Yay! I'm soooo happy you got a second opinion and are feeling so good about it! Woohoo! ((HUGS))

AL said...

Fabulous plan with a great new doctor. hope you get some answers soon!

Heather said...

Hi I’m Heather! Please email me when you get a chance! I have a question about your blog. HeatherVonsj(at)gmail(dot)com

Suzanne said...

I'm so glad that you've finally found a good doctor! I'm hoping and praying that everything will work out for you.