and More Tests
It had been a couple weeks since I had heard from the clinic. I made that dreaded call to try to make an appointment to get some answers. I finally got through to make the appointment. Again, a flood of emotions coursing through my veins, waiting for the appointment.
It's appointment day and I get called back to sit in the room and wait. I should have been keeping track of how much time I spent waiting through this process. Well, I'm sitting there waiting, wondering which doctor I'm going to see this time. In walks the doctor that actually makes eye contact! Yipee! She grabs her little round rolling seat and scoots over in front of me. This is when she shared the results, after a few questions. Do you struggle with your weight? Do you have any extra facial hair? Do you have irregular periods? (these have been answered a million times.) Do you have a problem with acne? I answered honestly that only one was a yes. I struggle with weight, duh. The rest of the answers
to the questions were no. She then told me they found cysts on my ovaries and she chalked up my symptoms to PCOS. I will come back and visit this diagnosis later. PCOS was one of the results I didn't want. After everything I had read and from talking to friends about their PCOS journey; this was something I didn't want to deal with. I was devastated. In case you are wondering, the chances of getting pregnant with PCOS are a long and tough road.
She then tells me she wants to order another test to rule out anything else. I'm sure you are dying to know what that test entails after my description of the last one! :D She wanted to see if my fallopian tubes were open. After all, that is where sperm fertilizes an egg. I totally understand her reasoning for ordering an HSG (hysterosalpingogram). Say that three times fast. This is with the same doctor that ordered the test. This test is an x-ray in which they insert a catheter into my cervix where a dye (contrast medium) is put through a thin tube. The dye will flow into the fallopian tubes. X-ray pictures are taken as the dye passes through the uterus and fallopian tubes. This is where I will stop you. Remember how I told you the full bladder for over an hour was painful? If I had to put them on a scale of 1 to 10 it would go as follows... Full bladder 3, HSG 28. The cervix is not something that likes to be messed with. (Something else I will discuss in another post) With this being an x-ray, I had to lie perfectly still while in excruciating pain. During this test the doctor asked me, "are you doing ok?" I responded with tears running down my cheeks and into my ears, "no". She told me to make sure to stay still and it would be over soon. Not soon enough, though. This was the first test that I would know the results immediately and I wouldn't have to wait. I was thrilled! She was finished with the test, told me to sit up and said, "well, your tubes are open." (The X-ray below is not mine)
As if I hadn't already cried enough from pain, I burst into tears when she told me. It was finally good news. It was something that was ruled out and not an issue. This was also the first time I felt emotion from any medical professional at the clinic. She put her hand on my leg and told me everything was going to be ok and we would schedule the next appointment to discuss the next step.