Monday 19 May 2008

Adventures in Fertility

There is a lot of information on the internet but whenever I go looking for things I almost find what I'm looking for and usually it's in a forum and therefor incomplete... So I'm hoping to share my experiences as complete as possible...

We had our appointment on May 14. We have had an appointment with another specialist over a year ago but she wasn't very pleasant. My doctor decided that I should see someone else. Our appointment was at the IWK in Halifax. I say our appt as Cory was an active participant in the appointment as well.

Our appointment started with the questionnaire... one pink one (for me) and a blue one (for Cory). It asks everything from the age when you hit puberty (I guess I forgot to write that one on the calender) to the frequency of intercourse. If you are a private person, the questionnaire will make you uncomfortable. Then a nurse came in to review the questionnaire and asked for clarification where needed... which was pretty much every question. She took my blood pressure, my pulse, my height and my weight... I'm happy to report that all 4 were present and accounted for.

She then left....Then we waited.... and waited and waited....

After about 50 minutes, the doctor came in....

We started out with more discussion. One of my major issues is that my cycle can go long. Anytime a cycle exceeds 40 days, it is a good sign that ovulation has not occurred. So I have a prescription for Provera , which will cause my cycle to start. This sounds scary so I'm hoping to never have to use it. It also must not be used until a negative pregnancy test is achieved.

The next item on the agenda is an hysterosalingogram or a dye injection test. This is an Xray of the uterus and tubes by injecting dye via the cervix. This needs to be completed within the first 12 days of your cycle to lower the risk of pregnancy for the test. You are required to have a clean STD work-up completed (which was completed during my appointment) and a negative pregnancy test. This checks for blocked/damaged tubes. Apparently having the dye test will actually increase your chances of pregnancy as it spring cleans the tubes.

If I have a clear dye test, on my next cycle I can start taking my prescription for fertility drugs... Clomid.

So in a nutshell, here's my time line... have to wait for my next cycle to make the dye test appointment, then to my next cycle to start taking fertility drugs.

1 comment:

Rob, Tina and the boys said...

Those are the 2 drugs I took. And we had our appointments at the same place. They were very supportive. And I remember the questionaire. They ask everything except what sexual positions you frequently use. :)Oh, and Provera is not as scary as it sounds.