Mollywogger - my_uterus_etc.

Dispatch from the Trenches

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mollywogger) — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 11:15:00 -0500

Day 11 ultrasound with Dr. Perky this morning was better than the last, which is good news. I’m impressed and, frankly, somewhat surprised that my body seems to be responding in the way that it should. Also utterly dumbfounded by and about to make everyone jealous with the fact that I’ve yet to have any Clomid side effects. I know, I hate me too!

Lining was triple-striped in both horns of my uterus – left horn was 5.2 mm, right horn was 6.7 mm. I’ve still got 2 days of Estrace and 4 days before trigger, so I’m feeling better about my lining this time around.

Follicles: 7! Holy shit! That was a surprise. Left ovary had 14, 12.5, and 11.5, and right ovary had 17, 14, 11, and 10. I’m suppose to test for an LH surge until Sunday, and give myself an Ovidrel injection that evening if I haven’t yet surged.

After the ultrasound, I said, “I’m a bit baffled by the fact that none of my doctors have offered progesterone supplementation since I regularly have a 9 or 10 day luteal phase and have a history of a chemical pregnancy.” She replied that according to many recent tests, progesterone supplementation was having no greater affect on maintenance of early pregnancy than placebo, so the REs in her practice weren’t generally recommending it. She explained that Clomid and injectibles were actually proving to be more helpful for luteal phase defect than progesterone is (by producing extra follicles which produce extra progesterone after ovulation). I mentioned that I was on Clomid for the last cycle with three follicles and still had a 10 day luteal phase, and she said, “All right, let’s do progesterone and see how it goes.” So, cheers to me for being proactive in my personal health care. I mean, hey – it worked for cows.

So, that’s where I’m at. In conclusion, a few more pictures from my sister’s wedding.

The ceremony

Holding my best friend K's daughter, L, who's at 0 weeks adjusted right about now

The happy couple

Trigger Happy

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mollywogger) — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 14:45:00 -0500

Yes, all of those who asked, that clinic is my clinic. And yes, my doctor is the one with most of the fishy accusations (“[T ’n’ B] told investigators that he once found a tumor on a patient’s leg and now touches legs as part of his routine examinations”? Wha . . ?) However, it is as the article states – “. . . clinic patients . . . said they’ve had no problems.” I concur. Everything has seemed entirely fine to me. I’d have had no idea if the newspaper hadn’t been publishing stories. This is definitely good, since the next nearest clinics are in Milwaukee and Chicago.

And as I’m sure you’ve all figured out by now, I do live in Madison. That diverse, liberal bastion amid the rolling farmlands. Or, as it’s often referred to, “70 square miles surrounded by reality.” This time of year, it feels like the Road Construction Capital of the World. Despite being a Minnesotan at heart, I’ve grown to enjoy living in a medium-sized city that has pretty much everything besides an Ikea. You get the Midwestern nice along with the organic-crunchiness of the East or the Northwest. Plus, being the liberal paradise it is, you get plenty of hilarious anti-establishment sidewalk art. Here are the ones I passed today on my way to pick up lunch:

and my personal favorite:

Ha! And on we go, from my sidewalks to my uterus.

Things seem to be going well down there. My ultrasound Saturday showed two nearly mature follicles (19 and 16.5) and a third that’s working on it (13.5). Scan was performed by the female doctor of the practice, whom I’ve named Dr. Perky (she’s just a bit much at 8:00 AM on Saturday. As she finished the scan, she exclaimed “You grow ‘em, girl!” and gave me five). The follicles have had two more days to grow since then, at an estimated 2 mm a day, so that third just may get there after I trigger tonight. 250 mcg of recombinant human Chorionic Gonadotropin (in the form of an Ovidrel pre-filled syringe) will make its way into my belly at approximately 6:00 PM to throw those eggs out of the frying pan and into the fiery cavern (caverns?) of my uterus.

Where the magic happens

I was a bit concerned about my uterine lining on Saturday, however. I had a nice triple stripe, but my lining was only at 5.8 mm. I talked to T ’n’ B about that today, and he did not seem the least bit concerned about it. He assured me that it’s probably gained a few millimeters in the past two days, and told me that he happened to be currently working on an article summarizing and remarking on past studies of endometrial thickness and its relationship to implantation. “There’s a lot of controversy out there right now, but according to what I’ve seen, as long as you’ve got the triple stripe pattern, you should be fine.” So, I guess I’m fine. I do hope, however, that I’m up around 8 mm now and I gain one more or so before I ovulate at approximately 6:00 AM on Thursday.

So, there you have it. End of monitoring, Clomid cycle 1. Now we just have sex and see what happens. And wait for the bill to arrive.

Oh, and no, I never did have any side effects on Clomid. I know, I’m a lucky girl. In a sense.

Oh! Hi!

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mollywogger) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 12:20:00 -0500

Hello! Remember me? I stop by here once in a while? The redhead? Sarcastic, unimpressed, and only sometimes amusing? I have an RE that draws obscene objects on his surgical gown? Yes! Me! Molly!

Let’s start with the most important news: Ms. Prufrock is doing well and she and The Dude are expecting Baby Pru-Dude to be home in the next few days. She’s had to stay in the hospital due to some jaundice and a slight reluctance to feed, but they’re hoping for a swift homecoming. I’ve talked to The Dude a few times and I know that Pru is missing the internets (and all y’all) and I’m sure she’ll fill you in on all of the details. I’m not sure whether she’ll share her daughter’s name with the online world, but believe me when I say that it’s the most adorable name you can imagine. So just imagine something adorable and smile and nod contentedly at their fabulous choice.

Now, on to me! I’ve been utterly remiss in posting, but I have had two good reasons: moving and starting a new job. Yeah! How about that? I managed to get hired in a job in the field that I actually wish to pursue as a career – I am now, officially, a librarian! I started on Monday the 10^th and I’m enjoying it immensely. It’s lower-stress than my last job, the duties are more enjoyable, and I still have plenty of time for blogging (yeah, I know. I really have no excuse for the lengthy absences). Is that a great job or what?

In addition to becoming a librarian, I found out (on the day that we moved) that I had been accepted into a Library Science Master’s program at the local University! I start this fall, full-time with mainly evening classes (so I will continue to work full-time – at least that’s the current plan), and hopefully will finish my degree in two years so that I can move into the specialty of archiving and document conservation. Life is great when things finally start happening, isn’t it?

The move also went well, and we are enjoying our first month of home-ownership. We officially have cable and HBO (including On! Demand! Al Swearingen, anytime, all the time) now, and I’ve officially become addicted to Project Runway (Tim Gunn, you complete me). I’ve also officially watched my first Discovery Health Channel special on the elsewhere- mentioned Duggars. All I have to say is: hoooooo boy.

So the previous paragraphs were the dessert (Pru), delicious Greek salad (job), lightly roasted asparagus (school), and cheesy-garlic mashed potatoes (new place) of the site. Now for the meat of it. Steak, anyone? We can all pass around the Heinz 57.

Things are finally – FINALLY – happening on the reproductive front. I had the MRI, which confirmed that I have a bicornuate uterus (so no surgery, which is good news), and then I calmly waited for Day 1 to begin my first official treatment cycle. Day 1 was Wednesday, so this morning I had my Day 3 ultrasound.

Yes, ladies. I am no longer a virgin. I have officially ridden the dildocam.

This morning’s wanding was not performed by T ’n’ B, but by the third of the three doctors at the practice. And his nurse. And an intern. And a nursing intern. For a moment I thought there was a parade going directly through my room and I was expecting a float with a waving Miss South Central Wisconsin to roll through next. This third doctor, coincidentally enough, actually looked like a dildocam, his head was so bald and shiny. I had met the second doctor in the practice at my HSG. Interesting that both of the other doctors have now seen my poon, and T ’n’ B hasn’t. Why such a shrinking flower, T? I purposely didn’t shave my legs, just for you. *sigh*

But the wanding was good, painless, and the results were great – we’re go-ahead for treatment. Left ovary had four small follicles, right ovary had one small follicle, and one measuring 9.6 mm.

(By the way, good Christ it is not fun to clean up after a day 3 ultrasound. But it’s not half as bad as cleaning up after a lower-pelvic MRI. For some reason, I had to shoot an entire syringe of KY into the cooch. And then go back to work. That was . . . moist.)

I had talked to T ’n’ B on the phone about the fact that he had given me a prescription for 100mg of Clomid daily rather than 50 mg, and his reply was that he started most women at 100 mg just as a standard. However, since I had a bicornuate uterus and he didn’t know exactly how I would respond to treatment, he agreed that it would be a good idea for me to start at 50 mg. Look at me! I am an important partner in my personal health care treatment! However, since he had already given me a 100 mg prescription, I got two months for the price of one – ten 50 mg pills rather than five. All for just $6, thanks to the addition of Clomid to my insurance company’s formulary last year. Bliss.

So this morning, after taking a deep breath and mumbling “Here goes,” I downed my first little white 50 mg pill of clomiphene citrate.

Side effect I’m most looking forward to: hot flashes.

Why?

BECAUSE MY NEW OFFICE IS FUCKING FREEZING.

I have worn a big fuzzy wool sweatercoat every day since I began at this job. Coworkers claim that the cold snap began the week before I started, when construction workers turned off the building’s steam pipes for repair. Besides the fact that it is sit-on-your-hands-cold in my office, there is also no hot water anywhere in the building with which to encourage circulation in my benumbed hands. However, there is a hot-air hand dryer. I spent 10 minutes under it one day last week.

Oh, and one other bit of news – my IRL (in-real-life) best friend, K, gave birth to a darling baby girl at 34 weeks gestation last week. She weighed a healthy 5 lbs, 2 oz and is set to go home from the hospital tomorrow. It’s been a big week – my IRL best friend and my internet best friend both had their little girls. I’m an aunt two-times over. I’m so thrilled that everyone’s happy and healthy.

And my deepest congratulations to OvaGirl for the birth of her baby boy, and to my dear Menita for the birth of her Jack. In addition, other good things have been happening lately. Perhaps – perhaps – the news in our corner of the internet has finally take a turn for the better.

Well, that was unnecessary.

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mollywogger) — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 12:07:10 -0500

The appointment, I mean. I had at least hoped to take my pants off this time, but no dice. Doc T ’n’ B nearly gave himself a hernia leaning backwards in his chair, examining my previously taken MRI results. This after, upon greeting me, he asked, “Did you bring your MRI films?” “I sent them to you a week ago.” “Oh. Just a minute,” and scampered out of the room. I figured that the week of lead-time would give him time to send the films to radiology and have them read, but obviously that did not happen. Instead, the good Doc squinted at the films through the dim fluorescent lighting and muttered, “If I could at least figure out where your uterus was . . . oh, I think that’s your rib cage . . .”

He’s pretty sure that the former scans did not go low enough into my pelvis, but he’s going to have radiology double-check. In the mean time, I’ll have to schedule another MRI to get a better look at the shape of the outside of my uterus to finally determine whether I have a septate uterus or a bicornuate uterus.

Though I already knew the difference between the two, Doc created one of his doodlings in explanation, possibly for his own amusement. Many of us talk about the impulsive artwork that our REs create, but I was so impressed by the good Doc this time that I thought I’d share a bit with you. Here’s the difference between a septate and bicornuate uteri:

Here's his evaluation of my egg quality and Hal’s semen analysis:

A quick tutoring on ovulation induction:

And lastly, my favorite, his illustration of what happens to a bicornuate uterus during pregnancy. I love the stick-baby:

Since I still have to get my MRI to see whether or not I’ll need septum resection surgery, we’ll have at least one more cycle before any treatment begins. However, I do have the Clomid prescription sitting in my purse, waiting for that fateful day. He had prescribed Letrozole, but after explaining to him that Clomid was covered under my insurance for simply a low co-pay, he was gracious enough to swap. The prescription is for 100 mg daily, which I found a bit odd since I ovulate regularly – I thought he’d want to start me on the lowest 50 mg. dosage to see how I responded – but I’ll bring that up at my baseline day 1-2 ultrasound when the medicated cycle actually begins. I’m sure he has some sort of reason.

He also brought up the special risks that multiples pose for a woman with a bicornuate uterus. Since a fetus grows in only one uterine horn, there’s less room than usual and a high chance of premature birth. If twins are conceived, they have some chance of survival if there is one in each uterine horn. If two or more are in any one horn, we may have problems. I’ll keep you posted on further chats with the Doc.

So, once again, we wait.

I have plenty to do in the meantime. We close on our condo tomorrow. My parents are coming tonight to help paint and move into the new place – Saturday is the big day. I’ve got two more weeks at my job to try to tie things up. Cable (and HBO! Glorious, glorious HBO!) will be installed a week from today. “The Days Are Just Packed,” as Calvin and Hobbes would say.

In the meantime, I’ll keep my pants on. Maybe.

I’m Even More Abnormal Than I Thought I Was

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mollywogger) — Thu, 8 Jun 2006 16:40:00 -0500

The HSG results, they are not good – not absolutely dire, but not good all the same

Seems I have a malformed uterus.

During the procedure, the doctor told me how great I was doing and remarked on my nice clear tubes. But the uterus I saw on the screen looked nothing like the nice, normal uteri I’d Googled. I heard her ask the intern who had inserted the catheter, “There was just one cervix, correct?” Oh Jesus, I thought, that’s not a good question to hear. There was.

“Molly, where do you work?” she asked.

“An office.”

“What kind of office? Is it a medical office? I ask because I’m going to use some medical terms . . .”

“Oh, I know the medical terms. Is it septate?”

“Well, it’s either septate, bicornuate, or didelphic. Dr. T ’n’ B will have to look at your results to give you more information.” (All of these terms, as well as how the uterus forms in fetuses, are explained well here).

Doc T ’n’ B called a few hours later. After looking at the films, he’s pretty sure that it’s bicornuate, but I'll need an ultrasound and he'll want to look at the MRI films I had done when I had that kidney stone last year to see if he can get more information (he was glad to hear that my kidneys looked normal when I had the MRI done, since uterine abnormalities are often associated with kidney problems).

He also wanted to make sure that I wasn’t freaking out, since a bicornuate uterus is not the end of the world. It is associated with a higher risk of miscarriage and premature birth, but women with bicornuate uteri do go on to carry and give birth to healthy babies in the majority of cases.

“Could the bicornuate uterus be the reason that we’re not getting pregnant?” I asked.

“Well, not usually. It’s associated with a higher miscarriage and premature birth rate, but not with difficulty getting pregnant. So we’ll have to talk about that at your appointment.” (which is scheduled for June 20^th)

Great.

I was so relieved after talking to the Doc. Before he called (and before the Googling started), I was in a sorry state – weeping, convinced that I’d never carry a child, and fully aware of the irony of having to talk to a largely pregnant woman to get copies of my HSG photos.

Speaking of which, here they are –

First, a normal HSG for comparison:

And here’s mine. You can see that the tubes are clear, but the ute is fucked up.

In this picture, they pulled down on the cervix a bit to get a better look at the shape.

So, there you have it.

Oh, but there is a big dollop of good news to garnish my shit sundae – Stella is fine, and ended up not needing amputation after all! Her leg must have somehow slipped back into alignment between appointments, because after I brought her in for her surgery the vet called and said that Stella was using her leg so well that she just didn’t feel comfortable amputating it. So Stella is on pain medication, and she’s started acupuncture treatments as well. Yes, my cat is receiving acupuncture. Am I a yuppie now?

Here’s my princess with all four legs: