Many of you will remember this post from back in October 2012.  I went to see an IVF specialist, freaked myself the heck out and after having written that blog, the more I thought about it, the more I realised that the Houston IVF OBGYN I saw, was not, in any way, for me.  It wasn’t a good fit, in spite of the fact she was a fertility specialist, it just didn’t rock my world – and, considering that this chick spends more time talking to your va-j-j than to your face, you gotta feel the love – know what I’m sayin’?

The US system may cost a fortune, but, it also grants you a great deal of choice.  Since I was unhappy, dejected and considered my first official fertility appointment, ‘strike one’, I went back to do some more digging.  After a lot of searching and asking people for recommendations, I came across a name.  Dr Katherine Diase.

I called, booked an appointment (her first new patient appointment was a month out – and I was willing to wait, as the reviews said great things) and then I had to cancel the appointment.  I waited another month for her next available new patient appointment, and today was the day.

I admit, I was nervous, not really sure what to expect, though the receptionist on the phone last week went a long way toward settling my mind.  She was very kind, changed my appointment from a consult to a well-woman (cause it’s the time of year again, for my ‘soap box’ public service announcement post, go here) and told me that I could have a conversation with the Dr about how to proceed going forward.

I arrived, went to the wrong building, miraculously got to the appointment on time, though when I was fully gowned (man, those things just sap all the dignity out of you, eh?) the nurse reappeared and told me that Dr Diase was called away for a delivery and would be half an hour.  So, two months waiting for the appointment, would I sit for upwards of half an hour to wait for this woman to come poke and prod at me?

I was tempted to reschedule, but could I really wait another month?

I gave it a quick once over in my brain and thought to myself, out of all of the pap-smears I’ve had, of all the doctors offices I’ve been in, I have never once seen stirrups with knee-high socks on them.  This made me smile.  The staff at the front desk were friendly, the nurse was nice and helpful – not to mention I was already starkers…

So, I waited, she reappeared (the delivery went well) and we got started.  She asked about a number of things, I told her my background (she concurs with my previous two doctors that I have PCOS and is going to have bloods checked to look at hormone levels), I told her my plan, that I’ve started trying for a baby, stopped, started again (lather, rinse, repeat) and that this year I decided that I was going to focus on my body, rather than the goal.

I told her that when I was 213lbs for my wedding, my cycles were 32-34 days each.  After my gallbladder surgery plus a few months dosage of metformin, my weight sky-rocketed and peaked around 270lbs (which, she tells me is a common result of both gallbladder surgery and metformin).  I told her that at my current weight (plus the twenty-ish lbs I have lost so far) my cycles are 42-44 days and that it doesn’t take a medical degree to notice the pattern – again, she concurred.

I also informed her that I am less of a crazy when I’m focused on my weight loss (it helps that I have a dietician as a BFF to keep my wits about me and not do it any way but the right way) than when I’m focused on getting pregnant – cause that is a level of crazy that not even Col deserves to be subjected to in the long term – so it’s better for all that I don’t focus on pregnancy just now.

She agreed, though she does want to check and make sure that everything is as it should be.  Because otherwise, all of the ‘good timing’ and ‘weight loss’ in the world, won’t have any effect if there’s something causing an issue.

The starting point, therefore, is something I’ve mentioned before, they want to perform what’s called a Hysterosalpingogram (a HSG for short), this is an x-ray type of procedure, to investigate the shape of the uterus and the shape and functionality of my fallopian tubes.  In short, they’ll shoot dye through my plumbing and take pictures to make sure the dye goes where it’s supposed to, doesn’t get blocked and doesn’t leak out. A HSG also gives some idea as to the integrity of the endometrial cavity.

It is known as the most uncomfortable of diagnostic procedures for females.

Yeah…I’m psyched about the procedure…said no one… EVER!

Thankfully I have a month or so to wait before I have the procedure done.

Online reports say that I’ll have a fair idea of the results immediately, based on the scan.  My OBGYN today, said that she’d have the results within 24hours and we could go through them shortly thereafter.

I told her before I left, that the last time I was in Methodist hospital, was when my friend Magz was in labour and having Eve, to which she replied, ”don’t worry, it’ll be your turn soon’ – and she meant it.  I kinda laughed it off and she emphasised that she was serious.  I gotta admit, it’s mighty nice having someone that positive, and *sure* on my side.  Though for me, the jury is still out, but for now, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be me soon, right?

Husband is now not-so-quietly panicking about the cost of the procedure.  Hopefully that’ll be put to rest by a simple call to our insurance provider, once it is, I’ll go back to not-so-quietly panicking about the procedure itself!

I’ve taken the first step, twice.

In about a month I’ll take the second step, hopefully (going by pain-reports) I’ll only have to take it once and we can go onwards and upwards from there!