Post-op appointment and the next stage

I had my follow up appointment today with Dr S.

He checked out my incisions, I've been a bit concerned about the one on my bikini line where the drain was. It's been slow to heal, the other three are healing well but this one is causing me a bit of trouble. It's not infected, just healing slowly. I think it's because it's in an awkward spot and my clothes rub on it a bit. But they're all looking good, I just have to keep that one covered for a while longer.

I also told him about the muscular pain I've been having. He said it's normal and I just need to slow down and give my body a chance to heal. There's only so much resting I can do. The dishwasher won't load itself and the washing has been piling up, making me crazy. I've got to bend and twist to do both those chores.

He also reviewed the husbands results from his last analysis in June. They're ok, what Dr S calls a borderline result. Not good, but just below average on motility and count. For a couple with no fertility problems, a result like this would be fine. But with my problems and our age, it's not that great.

Then Dr S went over the surgery. My fallopian tubes are fine, the dye test was perfect. He removed the large cyst, it had grown to nearly twice the size of my ovary. Luckily it was just a simple cyst, not a chocolate endometrial type one. And on the other ovary that is covered in pcos type cysts, he drained the majority of those ones as well.

He also removed a lot of endometriosis. There wasn't huge amounts of it, it was just little patches everywhere. On the photos he showed us, it just looked like little clusters of blisters. Even though they were small it was quite extensive. It was on the outside of my uterus, both the front and the back. On the ligaments, the pelvic wall, the pouch of douglas, on my bladder and bowel. Which explains why going to the bathroom after my surgery was uncomfortable and why for a few days I was sure I was getting a uti. Unfortunately, the endo can come back. I've got a 30% chance of it reoccurring, but if it is going to come back, it usually takes around 18 months.

Dr S gave us two options. We can go away and try on our own without any science for three months, or we can jump straight into a medicated cycle and IUI. He explained for our age, a couple has a 22% chance of falling pregnant each month. With the husbands results and the fact that it doesn't look like I ovulate regularly it reduces our odds down to 12%.

A teeny tiny part of me wants to try on our own, I think it's the fact that I wish my body just worked the way it's meant to. But those odds aren't good. We've been trying for 15 months now and it's starting to take it's toll. We're also getting older, my husband turns 35 next week. So we've decided we're going to go straight to medicated cycles with monitoring and IUI.

Our next appointment is an information session with the nurses at the fertility clinic that Dr S works with. It's right next door to his office, in the same building. We'll get all the information and quote for the price of it then. Both my husband and I will have blood work done then, and the husband will have to have yet another analysis done too, but not on that day, it'll just be organised and a time booked. Poor husband, the only time that worked for both of us as well as the fertility clinic is on his birthday. The appointment is at 11am, so we'll have to go out for a quick lunch afterwards to make up for it.

Our first cycle will be some time in mid to late September. Dr S wants my body to heal fully first. I'm glad he said September, this month is getting a bit crazy. I've got a 5 day contract already booked and there's no way I'd be able to get into the clinic for monitoring. I leave for work by 7am and I don't get home until 5pm at the earliest. And there's no taking half days or going in late with my line of work. It's either a full day or a day off.

It's crazy to think that if this all works first time round, we could have a little winter baby due in June!

(I know the chances of it working first time aren't that great. And Dr S made sure to tell us that he only likes to do IUI 3-4 times before moving on to IVF so that's still in the back of my mind. But I can't help myself but count forward nine months!)