Wednesday, January 31, 2007

So far...

Our road to baby began in October of 2005. We went off the pill and low and behold tada we were pregnant!!! I was one of the girls like all of my friends, try and succeed. I was so excited I decided to write our Christmas letter and announce the news. Big mistake. I miscarried a few days after sending out the letter. I was 6 weeks.

I was trying to figure out when we could start trying again. I got all kinds of advise. The one I liked was wait till I get a period. Exactly 6 weeks later I got my period. It was the last one I got on my own for a year, literally.

In May I went to the doctor (not my PCP, who as a side note I LOVE, she is an amazing Doctor), this doc was a civilian doc at NHP. She said we don't worry about "secondary amensus" till it has been at least 6 months with no period. She didn't even do an exam. She said I was supposed to have a pap on August so wait till then. Oh should I mention I had gained about 20 lbs. by this point with out a significant change in my diet.

I got an appointment with my PCP. I believe it was the first couple days of July. She did not have the same opinion as Dr. I Don't Care. She did a pap and a pelvic exam. Then she sent me for an ultrasound.

I was then diagnosed with PCOS. And referred to the OBGYN clinic at NHP. I saw an Ob doc who took about 2 hours to get in the room to see me. Stayed less then 5 minutes, did no physical exam and prescribed Metformin. OK, at least we were doing something.

I talked to one of the nurses I work with who has the same diagnosis. She said she was 10 months into taking Metformin and still no period on her own. I don't have 10 months of sanity left in me so I went back to the OB Doc to see what else we could do. She added progesterone to bring on a period and Clomid to make me ovulate. This was even better we was so excited. That by the way was September 2006.

Two cycles of Clomid later, I was still not getting a period on my own and I missed my appointment with OB Doc because of a not making it back into town because of our flight that got canceled till the next day. They told me I could not get back to see her for a month and a half...unacceptable, so they could put me in with another OB Doc. OK, first impression, great. Thorough, caring. He sent the hubby for semen analysis and me for a HSG. Calls me that night and says they cant find the results from my July pap smear so I need to go for another one. Family practice docs can do it though, OB doesn't need to do it. So now I have been to 2 separate OB GYN docs and neither one has done a pelvic exam.

This is where a lot of my frustration begins. Lets start with the HSG. You are supposed to have it the first 10 says of your cycle. Not easy for me because I don't get a period on my own. So Doc gives me progesterone and makes my appointment. Neal takes off work we go to the appointment and I get undressed and I am on the x-ray table when Doc comes in and asks which day of my cycle I am on. I tell him I haven't gotten it yet. Doc is not happy. He says although he does not think I am pregnant he can't do the HSG that day because of the .00000001% chance I might be. I wont get in to the fact that he messed up the timing of the test with the amount of days I was on progesterone. Apparently though I am suppose to know that even though he is the one who went to medical school. OK. Make new appointment for next week. He can't do it so he has another OB doc do it.

So let me tell you what a HSG is... A Hysterosalpingogram is where you lay on a table in the radiology department, the doc takes a tanaculum (about as fun as it sounds, picture mini ice pick) and grasps your cervix. By grasp I mean puncture, OH MY GOD!!!!!!! then they place a catheter through your cervix an shoot a radio opaque dye into your uterus and it leaks out into you abdominal cavity through your fallopian tubes. This tells whether or not your fallopian tubes are blocked. After the dye goes in they make you move so they can take real time x-rays. Oh might I add no anesthesia not even something to relax you. NOTHING. They were kind enough to let my husband be in the room and hold my hand. That was great for him because he almost passed out from seeing me in so much pain. PS tubes are clear.

I had the test on day 3 of my cycle. Comid you are supposed to take on day 5 of your cycle, so I call the office to see if he will prescribe the clomid. He says no he wants to wait till my husbands semen analysis results come back. They would probably be back the next day but that was his day off and he needed to remind me this is not an emergency. I realize this is not an emergency clinically but this is my life, this is mine and my husbands struggle for a child. What is the harm in going on the Clomid another cycle even if we don't have the results back. He would rather not do that at this time. We have now wasted another month because I need to wait for the follow up appointment get the progesterone for 10 days again. Wait till cycle day 5 and take 5 days of Clomid.

So at my follow up appointment, I ask Doc, why they do that test with no anesthesia or analgesia. He says because then they wouldn't be able to discuss the results with the patient right afterward. To which Neal said, she was in so much pain you couldn't discuss it with her anyway. I told him it was the worst pain I have ever experienced. Wait for this... He said and I quote, "You obviously haven't given birth yet." NOOOOO really! Guess what genius, they let you have epidurals for child birth. This is getting me nowhere. Lets move on to Clomid. apparently 50mg is not enough because I am not even getting a period from it. Should we up the dosage? No. OK. What about a referral for a specialist? Doc said if we choose to go that route he will give the referral. My hubby and I decide we will stick with him for now.

I got home and began to think about it more and I decide I want a referral to a specialist. I call his office and ask for a referral to Dr. Ripps, a Reproductive Endocrinologist who is covered by Tricare Prime and Standard. ( the insurance I have and can switch to) Doc leaves me a message that says, Elizabeth, I have no problem submitting a consult for the specialty but Tricare can handle who your provider will be. The other thing to realize is this will be an out of pocket expense so it will not be covered by Tricare. Who is he to say what will and wont be covered by Tricare especially when this provider is an in network provider? Turns out he put a referral in for just Endocrinology not Reproductive Endocrinology. Luckily I got a really nice rep at the service center who fixed it for me.

I now have an appointment with Dr. Ripps Feb. 5. My hubby and I are very excited!

To be continued...