I’m not even sure where to start with this update. Two weeks ago I had a hysteroscopy in Jacksonville. This was an outpatient procedure whereby I was sedated with general anesthesia, they put a scope up into my uterus, looked around to make sure everything was kosher, pulled tissue to send out to pathology to make sure there’s no evidence of endometritis (not endometriosis — that’s something different), and also removed any polyps or growths seen while they’re in there.
I brought tylenol with codeine with me since the pain med they usually provide is narco, and it does not agree with me. The nurse — the same one who’s been on schedule for my 4 egg retrievals and various other procedures — gave me two of them, so I was pretty much asleep before the anesthesiologist came to insert the IV and give me the “real” knockout drugs. Normally I remember sliding from the table back to the movable bed, but this time I don’t remember anything until waking up back in recovery. I asked the nurse how it went, and she said she thought the doctor said it all looked good and that he’d removed a polyp, but she wasn’t 100% sure about that. My husband told me the doctor went out to talk to him, told him that it all looked good, and that results would be in a week later. So my husband then drove me the 4+ hours back home where I then packed a travel bag (more on that in a moment), got into bed, tried to watch tv with him, and promptly fell asleep.
Normally I’d sleep off the anesthesia for a few days, but not this time. The next morning, Saturday, we had to get up bright and early and then my husband drove us to the airport because we had to fly home for my grandmother’s funeral on Sunday (I learned she had passed away two days before the hysteroscopy, which was the day before we had to drive to Jax). So Saturday was a day of travel, Sunday was the funeral, and Monday was a day of travel in the opposite direction. Tuesday I attended an all-day local conference and Wednesday I went back to work. So much for taking it easy …
In any case, on Friday I called the doctor’s office to find out the results. I finally got hold of a nurse who told me the polyp had come back benign, but the results of the tissue sample weren’t ready yet. She told me it would be 7-10 business days before those results were available, which is not what we were originally told.
So I impatiently waited until Wednesday, hoping the office would call with info. By the time I was out of meetings and could call, the office was closed. So I called first thing Thursday morning and left a message with a nurse. Again. She called back an hour or so later and told me that it looked like the results were in, but I’d have to wait for the doctor to call me and then he’d give me all the info before talking next steps with the egg donor nurse. I waited all day and no call. I emailed the donor nurse about 20 minutes before their office closed so she’d see it in the morning. On Friday (this morning), I called the office again and asked to speak to the donor nurse. I got her voicemail and left her a message basically pleading for information because at this point I’ve been on birth control pills (at their instruction) for about 6 weeks and it’s making me feel like crap, I’m incredible anxious about the results and next steps, and I was beginning to feel abandoned by the office for the first time since I started this entire process.
The donor nurse called back not too long ago (still no call from the doctor) and said she had hold of my results and the doctor had signed off on them. It looked like there was no evidence of endometritis so we could get started on the next step: the ERA, or mock transfer. Basically, I take all the make-you-feel-pregnant medicines as if prepping for a transfer, but instead of a transfer they do another biopsy of tissue, send it to pathology, and wait 14 calendar days for results to show whether I need more or less time on progesterone. We worked out the full schedule of stopping the birth control, starting the 3x twice daily estradiol plus additional meds, the day/time of the ultrasound/lining check in Tallahassee, and the date of the biopsy to pull tissue.
I was working through what that meant for the timeline of the real transfer when she called back. She had been looking through the pathology report again as she organized my paperwork, and realized there was no statement specifically clearing me of endometritis. She called the pathology lab to clarify, and it turns out they didn’t receive enough tissue to run the test sufficiently, so it’s unclear whether or not there’s evidence of endometritis in my uterus. I’m baffled (along with some other descriptive words) as to how this happened, as the WHOLE point of the hysteroscopy was to pull tissue for this test.
The nurse faxed the information over to the office where the doctor will be on Monday, as he’s traveling at the moment, and will get in touch with him to review what happens next. There are apparently a few courses of action:
I continue with the mock transfer as planned and at the already-scheduled appointment for Aug. 21, the doctor pulls enough tissue to do both the receptivity test (for progesterone levels for the real transfer) AND redo the endometritis test.
I have a separate visit to redo the endometritis biopsy prior to the already-scheduled mock transfer appointment, but still continue with the mock transfer timeline.
I stop prepping for the mock transfer, schedule another endometritis biopsy, wait another 2 weeks for results, and go from there (either antibiotics for 7-28 days or start w/mock transfer prep again).
And there you have it. If I’m super grumpy, irritable, or anxious when I see you, this is why.