Post-op update

Just got back from Dr. Smiles. It was absolutely fascinating to watch the video of the surgery. It just astounds me that they are able to do complicated actions like that without directly seeing what they're doing. One of the most interesting was when they sew the stitches through the cut on my uterus and then pull them outside of my body to tie the knot and then push it all back inside again to tighten the knot.

So, here's the lowdown on the surgery (warning, this is long...)

I didn't get an exact measurement on the fibroid, but I'd guess it was about an inch or so? Not that big, but it actually looked pretty big in relationship to the size of my uterus. (How cool was it to see my inflated uterus bouncing around in my inflated abdomen? So very cool. I'm geeky that way.) It was pretty close to where the right tube connected, but no idea if it was causing issues there. It was really interesting to see the fibroid because it was a self-contained, smooth oval. Once he cut into the uterine wall, you could see it and then he was able to pull it out and only had to cut a few tendrils from one side. The cut looked pretty big across the uterus and pretty deep but didn't have to go all the way through the wall. He did say, though, that it was likely deep enough that he'd recommend a c-section instead of putting stress on the uterus for a vaginal birth. Which is unfortunate but I knew it was a probability.

He found endometriosis in a few places on the peritoneal wall (Stage I). He also found some endo in Allen-Masters windows which, I think, are little pockets that formed in the connective tissue? I'm not entirely sure about those -- I've looked up info about them, and I can't tell, really, if it's something you're born with or if it forms over time. He burned off the endo he found. It definitely wasn't a lot of endo, but he does think it was enough to be adding to my abdominal pain caused by the fibroid.

The "extra" tube was actually a paratubal cyst. When you see it on the video, it is a dangling piece of tube about 1/3 of the length of the fallopian tube and attached about halfway down the left fallopian tube. It had a spherical fluid-filled cyst on the end of it. It doesn't seem like it was anything that caused issues, just something random that doesn't need to be there. I asked him if it was what they were seeing when they saw "something" at the end of the left tube in the HSG, but he didn't really seem to think much of it. I wonder, though, since what Dr. Six was seeing was something stopping the dye and that would probably do it.

He also (very carefully) cut some adhesions between my uterus and colon. And, he took the time to explore my abdomen and look at all of the various organs. That was pretty neat to see. He said all my organs looked really good. No endo on them, and everything looked healthy.

I couldn't decide, from the conversations, if he does really think that the fibroid or the endo was having any impact on my fertility or not. When he was telling us that it was imperative for my uterus to heal for two months before we got pregnant and we said "we're really good at not getting pregnant" he looked stern and said "with the fibroid and endo gone, I don't think that's true anymore." So, that sounds like he thinks it might have. But, again, nothing he said seemed like it was a huge impact on fertility. Mostly just pain. Maybe I've just gotten cynical. No matter what, I'm glad I did the surgery.

Anyway, so he's got me on BCP for the next two months to make sure I don't get pregnant. It's funny to even imagine the possibility of getting pregnant accidentally at this point. Seriously? I mean, doesn't that involve having sex or something? My DH and I can't stop laughing about that. I'll take the pills, though. I hope they go easy on me. I'm not a fan. I anticipate some nasty migraines along the way.

After the two months, I'll call when I get AF and we'll set up a baseline scan for our first injectable IUI. Of course, two months from now is the worst possible timing because I have two conferences in March, so we might have to try on our own one month before we get to the IUI. I'm trying not to let my "time is zooming away!!!!" anxiety take over and just go with the flow.

I have another really long post brewing in my head, but this is already getting crazy, so I think I'll end here. Thanks for reading!