Thursday, September 25, 2008

End of the Tunnel?

Some random musings follow:

Now that we've been diagnosed with, and temporarily cured of endometriosis, should we get excited and hope that we can de-board the infertility bus at the next stop? I don't think so ... we've been through enough in the past two years to know that premature excitement and anticipation can be your wost enemy. Aside from "go on a vacation", the recommendation of "not caring" is the most frequently lent piece of advice we've received. Don't get me wrong - we're happy that we have a culprit at which we can point fingers, and even happier that the culprit has temporarily been handcuffed, but we're by no means convinced that Mr. endo doesn't have friends lurking in the background. But we'll see. At least we have a reason to be hopeful, and a patient, compassionate Doctor.

Might the endo have caused our IVF cycle to fail? (I've read that prostaglandins - hormones emitted by endometriosis - can interfere with implantation, essentially tricking the ovaries into thinking they're at a part of their cycle that they are not) Maybe. Doesn't really matter now, but it's hard to overlook the careless, and less-than-thorough approach of our first Doctor.

We watched the video of the procedure - you can see inside my wife's abdomen, where her uterus, tubes and other inner bits are on display. You can see the endometriosis in the form of little dark, sometimes white, marks on her ovaries and abdominal wall. Then you can see the little red laser that burns them off, leaving sear marks in their place. They also did another dye test while in there ... you can also see this on the video, as blue fluid pours from the ends of the fallopian tubes. They took a sample of my wife's uterine lining ... we'll get the results of this biopsy in a few days. I'll make my next post upon receipt of results.

As always, thanks for the comments and wishes. They are very much appreciated.

2 comments:

BigP's Heather said...

Glad she is doing well.

Paula Keller said...

Isn't technology amazing!

It's good that you know that this obstacle is ruled out. I hope this does the trick for you guys!