Surgery Went Well

Happy Halloween, ya'll! 

I'm sitting here eating a Snick.ers candy bar as I write this.  We are not handing out candy this year, but we bought a bag of candy just in case kids showed up.  But instead of handing out candy, I'm eating them myself.  I'm only having one.  Ok maybe two.

Surgery went well this morning.  We were concerned about the heavy fog this morning but it was all cleared up by the time we left the house.  Traffic seemed to be heavier than usual though and there was an accident on the way to the hospital.  But we left early enough to get there early enough for our 8:30 am check-in with about 10 minutes to spare.

Went through the usual check-in procedure - paperwork, insurance, etc.  Then we were shown the waiting room and told that I would be called after about 15 minutes.  After waiting about 45 minutes (I should have checked with them earlier), a nurse came out to tell me that I was early and my surgery was not until 12:30.  My clinic screwed up on the timing!  I was a kinda mad, but I was too tired to do anything about it.  The good news was my doctor was possibly running early on the earlier surgeries.  So we just waited.  I told the nurse I had to pee if we were going to have to wait again, and she showed me the way to the bathroom.  While there she said she would have me produce a urine sample as well.  She asked if I had ever had my tubes tied or had a hysterectomy.  I said no.  Any chances that I could be pregnant?  I said no.  I told her I am still slightly bleeding from my period.  In fact, I had 2 periods in 10 days, I told her.  Still she wanted a urine sample.

I was finally called into the pre-op prep area.  The nurse had me change into a gown, cap and socks.  I told the nurse that I was still bleeding slightly/spotting and she gave me a pad, and one of those "super sexy grandma-ish one-size-fits-all" disposable underwear.  I was styling!  The gown was also pretty cool.  It's a special gown called "Bair Paws".  It was made of a special paper material and attached to a hose that blew in warm air into the gown.  There was even a special remove control that you can control how warm you wanted the air to be.  That was the highlight of my stay I think.  I didn't take a photo of the gown, but here's a photo of the remote control.  I did find a website about it.

The nurse asked me lots of questions including all the meds I take and when.  I told her about Lu.pron and and that I was adopting embryos and will be having a FET in November.  She had never heard of embryo adoption and thought it was so cool.  I was very happy to be able to tell her about embryo adoption.

Later, I met the anesthesiologist and we went through the usual questions again.  I mentioned how the last couple of times, I had nausea at recovery even though they gave me Zo.fran.  Plus I had also thrown up after I got home.  They decided to give me a nausea patch for motion sickness too.  A lot of times the drive home makes the nausea worse.

The nurse put in an IV line in my arm.  Later a nurse anesthesiologist came and injected some pain and meds and something to relax me in my IV line.  I said good bye to Babe, and was wheeled into the OR at noon, half an hour earlier than my original scheduled time.  I was feeling a little loopy already.  They put an oxygen mask on me, injected my anesthesia meds, and I was out.

Unlike my prior experiences, my recovery went very well.  I woke up feeling pretty good.  I was not awakened suddenly and multiple times by the painful squeezes of the BP cuff, or jarring noise of the BP machine.  No nurse yelling loudly at me asking me how I was feeling.  I was not desperate for the nurse to leave me alone and let me sleep.  I was not nauseated and feeling like I was going to throw up when the nurse raised me higher on the bed.  She did ask me a few times my pain level and gave me more pain meds as needed.  She asked me if I thought I was ready to sit up, or if I wanted some more time to rest.  I told her wanted more time, so I took another short nap.  She gave me iced water and some crackers. She was nice and I didn't feel rushed.  I felt pretty good.  

Soon it was time to sit up in a chair.   Babe came in to be with me and not long after, it was time to get ready to head home.  I went to the bathroom to pee, and put on a pad and one of those "infamous" hospital underwears.  Babe helped me get dressed, and I was wheeled out in a wheelchair armed with a plastic ziplock "puke bag" provided by the hospital.  Just in case.

I got home feeling good all the way.  No need for the puke bag.  Didn't puke when I got home either unlike the last couple of times.  I had some leftover comfort food from dinner last night and went to bed.  I napped for about 4 hours.  I started feeling some cramping so I took another dose of the pain killers.  It's important to manage to pain before it starts to become a problem.

So all in all, I had a good day.  I might even sneak in a couple more candy bars later.  And now I'm off to relax and watch a movie with Babe.  

Good night, everyone.  Hope you had a great Halloween celebration!

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

Surgery Tomorrow AM

In less than 12 hours, I will have a hysteroscopy to remove my polyp in my uterus.  Surgery is scheduled for 10:30 am, and check-in is at 8:30 am.  The weather is forecasted to have heavy fog with about a 1/4 mile visibility.  This will make our drive to the hospital challenging.  We'll have to leave earlier to anticipate bad traffic.  I had to call my doctor's office yesterday to make sure it was OK for me to have surgery with a cough.  I had a cold about 2 weeks ago.  That went away, but then I started coughing, and it's been lingering since then.  It's gotten a lot better, but it's still here.  Doc says it's not a problem as long as I am not feeling bad and don't have a fever.

I've had two periods in 10 days.  I finally started my period on Saturday 10/19 after it was a no show (plus a little drama that included peeing on a stick) and starting BCPs.  Then I took my last BCP on Friday, 10/25.  I was fully expecting that I would not get a period this time since I had only just had my period.  But nope, my period came on Monday.  I'm still not done with my period yet, but my clinic has said it was fine if I was still bleeding during my surgery.  So, that's good.

I had my baseline ultrasound and blood work done today.  My lining was 4 mm which is good.  Katie called this afternoon and told me I am all good to go to started Es.trace tomorrow.  I take half a tablet in the morning and half in the evening.  I am to start fasting at midnight tonight (no food or drinks), but I will take a tiny sip of water to take my Es.trace in the morning.

Babe took me out for dinner tonight at my favorite Asian restaurant.  Kind of a "last supper" before the surgery.  Just kidding!  It was so that I can order enough food that we have leftovers to bring home.  I know that I will be starving and craving comfort food after the surgery.  

However, based on how my past surgeries turned out, I'll probably come home and throw up from the effects of anesthesia first.  Then I'll feel better and eat my first meal.  After that I'll probably sleep off the rest of the day.

I'll do an update tomorrow when I feel up to it.  I would also appreciate prayers for my surgery and recovery.  Thanks ya'll.

Surgery's A Go

Went to see Dr. B today, my gynecologist that did my last 2 hysteroscopies to remove my polyps.  First I saw the ultrasound technician, Mark.  My local clinic sent the ultrasound report with a description of the polyp and a copy of the ultrasound image, but the image was just a mess.  You couldn't see anything but a bunch of black splotches.  They probably just faxed the report over and you know how faxes can be.  Fortunately I brought my copy of the report that the clinic sent me and it was better.  There was also no indication of what the size of the polyp was on the report.  Again, luckily I asked about it when I called the clinic last time (it was 6mm x 6mm x 4mm).

Not that it really mattered since Mark was doing the ultrasound again, and that would be the "formal" report for Dr. B.  When Mark saw the report I brought with me, right away he could see the polyp.  I was kind of blown away because there was no way I could have picked anything out of those images.  Well, he is the one with the trained eye!

We proceeded with the ultrasound and right away, he identified the polyp.  It is in the middle of the uterine cavity, measuring at 7mm x 5mm.  It seems like it had grown a tiny bit in 13 days, though Mark wasn't concerned.  He said it was the size of a Green Giant pea, squeezed so it was a little elongated.  He made sure to note that it was the Green Giant pea, as the are a little bigger than the other types (he's kinda funny like that).

Mark asked why we needed to remove the polyp.  I started giving an explanation and then realized it was a rhetorical question.  Doh!  That made me feel kinda silly.  Anyway, he explained we needed to remove the polyp because it can act like an IUD (intrauterine device, for birth control) in the uterus.  It can irritate the uterus, prevent pregnancies and cause miscarriages.  So, Mark confirmed that I have a polyp that needs to be removed "so that we can get you pregnant!".  His words.  He also noticed that my right ovary sits behind and under my uterus, an odd location.  This is not a surprise to me I already knew this.  We had issues accessing my right ovary during one of my past IVFs.  He also thought I am going ovulate on my left ovary in the next few days.  Is that even possible, since I was on Lu.pron and birth control?

Next, I saw Dr. B.  Since this is going to be my 3rd hysteroscopy, it was a quick appointment.  I told him how my September was cancelled, and how we needed to get this polyp removed in October so I can have a November transfer.  He listened to my heart and breathing to make sure I was healthy and walked me down to his scheduler.  I also explained that it needed to be done before I  started Es.trace for the transfer, but I didn't know when it would be since NEDC would not be able to give me the protocol till later this week, or next.  He gave me the scheduler's business card and I am to call her once I hear back from NEDC with my protocol and the exact timing the surgery needs to be done.

The only complication is Dr. B is going to be gone for a week on a missions trip overseas between October 19th and 25th.  So that might be a problem.  Plus his surgery schedule is getting pretty full.  But he assured me we would work something out.  He usually only does surgeries on Tuesday and Thursdays, but if he had to, he would do the surgery on an evening or even a Saturday.  You gotta love this guy!

So I'm gonna have to bug Katie, the NEDC nurse to see if I can get the protocol as soon as possible!

So for now, my surgery's a go, though I don't know exactly when yet.

I'll leave you with an image of my ultrasound from today.  My polyp is white bean shaped thing between the 2 white arrows.   It seems pretty large to me, but it's actually only 7mm x 5mm.

Image of my polyp (between the 2 white arrows)