Since our first IUI had failed we were moving on to a new cycle with help from our RE, or so we thought. On the 3rd day of my cycle, I went in for my routine ultrasound and did not leave a happy patient. I wasn't unhappy with the medical staff, I was unhappy with myself and my body. Instead of a nice clean ultrasound scan, my left ovary had 6cm cyst on it. This is not something that we wanted to see. Dr. H told me that 30% of the time after a medicated cycle residual cysts will form on the ovaries. He also told me it wasn't something that would happen after each medicated cycle, because I was very worried that it would start happening frequently.
Because of the cyst I had, that meant no medicated cycle in December, no IUI. Had he allowed me to go through with another medicated cycle the meds would have stimulated not only new follicles, but the cyst as well, causing it to grow even more, and eventually rupture. Now I don't know about you, but a rupturing cyst did not sound like my idea of a good time, so I had no choice but to accept that we were sitting out a cycle. My instructions were to make an appointment for two weeks later to check the cyst again. Many times the cysts go away on their own and nothing more is needed. Occasionally though, they do not, and then need to be drained. I REALLY hoped that wasn't the case for me! I left feeling pretty defeated. This whole process is hard enough to wrap your head around. All the medical interventions just seem so unfair. Why is it we had to pay all kinds of money for medical treatments to get something that most people get for free?! Not to mention every time I turn around there is some pregnant 16 yr old on TV or walking through the mall. Frustrating to say the least, and now I was being told that we had to wait a month. To most people a month isn't that long, and before we started trying to conceive a month didn't seem that long to me either. Now...a month is like an eternity. All the time that just slipped away, and we were definitely no closer to a baby.
I went back two weeks later for my cyst check, and my ultrasound did not go as I had hoped. My cyst was shrinking, instead of 6cm it was only 3cm, but Dr. H didn't want to take the chance of it not fully dissolving on its own. He asked if I wanted to do it that day or schedule a time to come back. It didn't make any sense to go back another day since I was already there, so I told him to just go ahead and drain it. Matthew skipped this appointment because we didn't think there was a reason for him to go along. At that point I was really wishing he'd been there, at least I would've had someone to hold my hand, but I toughened up and took it like a champ. Haha!
Using an ultrasound guided needle (and when I say needle, I mean a needle that's a foot and a half long, and not something you EVER want stuck into your skin. It would leave a MUCH bigger hole in your skin than you'd want!) he located the cyst, told me he would count to 3 and then I'd feel the stick. It was a very odd feeling. You can't feel any of the organs and things inside your body, but when a giant needle is being jabbed into one of them, you can definitely feel that! I don't even know how to describe the way it felt, but it jolted me a bit. Here is the cool part. Since the needle was guided by ultrasound, I could see everything on the u/s screen. The cyst, the needle, the needle in the cyst, and then was able to watch the cyst deflate as he drained the fluid out of it. Once it was completely collapsed, he withdrew the needle and u/s wand and it was over. The whole thing lasted 5 minutes tops. There was quite of bit of liquid that came out of such a little thing! He told me to lie back for a few minutes because the procedure leaves patients a little light headed sometimes. I had some questions for him about our next cycle, so once I was feeling better, and could get dressed, he told me we would talk in his office.
Since this post has gotten A LOT longer than I originally intended, I'll make this part short (I'll try I promise!) We discussed what to do in January as far as meds are concerned. I didn't feel like Clomid was really doing much for us, and neither did he. He never lets patients do more than 2 rounds of Clomid unless they really want or need to for financial reasons. It was at this point that we decided the next month would bring about injections.
No comments:
Post a Comment