I’m a little late in posting, but I have just been too tired lately to try to concentrate on writing. But, I have the day off today, and I’m up early with nothing to do, so I figured it’s as good a time as any.
I had my saline sonogram or hysteroscopy or whatever you want to call it on Monday. It went much better than the HSG, there was hardly any pain. None at all really during the procedure, just a little pinched feeling when she was injecting the saline solution. It was the cramps afterwards that hurt the worst. They only lasted about 15 minutes or so, though.
It turns out that I have what the doctors originally suspected, PCOS. The doctor knew right away when she saw my ovaries, as there was this “collar” of cysts surrounding my ovaries (she didn’t actually say that I have PCOS, just that I have polycystic ovaries, but I’ve found through my googling that I’m pretty sure I have PCOS). She said that it’s normal for ovaries to always have a few cysts (follicles that have not matured to release an egg), but that I had so many that it was obvious that I do not ovulate. My body does not produce the hormones that help the follicles to mature and release the eggs. She said everything else looked fine, and that it won’t be hard for me to get pregnant once I am on fertility drugs (and have sperm, of course). I wish I would have thought to ask for print offs of my ultrasound pictures, but of course I didn’t. Maybe it’ll be in my record and I can get them at my next visit. But, of course a quick search of Google was able to provide a picture similar to what my ovaries looked like:
So as I do with everything, I googled PCOS, and found a really good site explaining it. This was the most informative site that I’ve visited. It pretty much confirmed for me that I have PCOS. I don’t have all the symptoms, such as being overweight (which is a big one), but I do have abnormal mentrual cycles, and I do have extra hair growth (which seems to be getting worse – probably since I went off of birth control). It also says that one of the symptoms is acne, which I’ve never had, but recently I’ve been getting a lot around my chin. Again, it may be because I’ve been off of birth control, which is supposed to help regulate the hormones.
One interesting thing I read was that although they don’t know if it’s genetic, they said that when someone is diagnosed with PCOS, they generally have a sister or mother who has it as well. My sister, Crystal, has not been diagnosed with PCOS, but we have suspected it. She has a son, Jack, and although they conceived naturally, it took her and her husband several years before she got pregnant. She’s also had many of the same symptoms I have. I find it interesting that they say there is no proof that it is genetic, but statistics are that 1 in 10 women have PCOS, and my sister and I just happen to both have it? But my mom doesn’t. It just seems strange to me.
Anyway, so now I’ve been diagnosed, but we’re still waiting on Mike’s ultrasound. It’s driving me crazy having to wait so long to find out the results, and I hate waiting (as you can tell from the title of my blog). I know I have to learn to be patient, because it’ll probably be a few more months before we have all the answers, but I just wish time would speed up. I have a feeling that it’s going to have to come to IVF, and I hate that it’s going to probably be 2 or 3 more months before that is confirmed. We’re holding off going to the orientation for IVF because there is a $400 upfront charge, and on the off chance that whatever Mike’s condition is can be fixed, we don’t want to have to pay that kind of money if IVF wont be necessary. Ugh!
Okay, enough of that. I’m going to get ready for the day, because I have a lot to do. I’m treating myself today by shopping, getting my hair done, and getting a manicure and pedicure. It’s a long overdue pampering myself day!
