#124 Polyp Results (08/28/12)

Well, yesterday was very stressful for me.  After all was said and done, nothing different from what I had suspected.  I really need to keep my stressing in check.  Last night, after the muscle relaxants wore off, my stomach was not happy at all, that is the first place stress shows for me. 

Well back to the appointment in general.  It was supposed to be a quick appointment.  But, it wasn’t.  First off they did the follicle count again.  This time I got to see things, as they had a monitor on the wall for me to watch.  Today, I had 5 on my left, and 9 on my right for a total of 14 (last time I had 15). Even though one less, I’m still above normal, so good to go on that front. 

The SHG was a little different from what I had thought.  I thought the ultrasound was put into the uterus, but the catheter is just to add fluid so they can see the uterus better with the tranvaginal ultrasound; same wand that is used for the follicle count.  They once again saw the probably polyp.  Once they were finished looking, my doctor told me to go over to his office across the building and tell the receptionist that he wanted to see me.  I told him I had to pay for additional parking.  My appointment was supposed to be 10-15 maybe 20 minutes.  I was all ready at an hour between waiting, change into gown, waiting, test one, waiting, test two. 

Once more parking was paid for I went to my doctor’s office.  He explained what he saw, they polyp looked to be 8 mm in its highest diameter, with an average of 5mm.  He said it isn’t too big.  Now normally his patients, are people having issues with fertility, in which, a polyp might be a hindrance.  But the only reason he is our doctor, is the fact we are missing the crucial item, sperm.  Many people have polyps and get pregnant, and have no issues and deliver a perfectly healthy baby.  However people with polyps do have a higher rate of miscarriages. 

He then went on to tell me the surgery procedure, a little scary, and what the possible complications or issues could be, although small rates of issues.  The way he explained things, it was very detailed, but also very understandable, so that was nice, and I felt I had all the information to make a good decision.  He then asked if I wanted to have the surgery.  I told him I would follow his recommendation.  The doctor then asked me “If I weren’t to give you a recommendation, what would you like to do?” and I said “Have it removed.”  He had mentioned what I had been thinking, every time we tried to get pregnant (at a hefty cost each time), and didn’t succeed, I would be thinking, is the polyp the cause? 

End result, I should be getting a phone call in the next couple days to schedule surgery. 

#123 Pinnacle Pregnancy Point (08/27/12)

Today is my SHG to determine if the polyp is a polyp, and whether it needs to be evacuated from my uterus. 

Today is the day we find out if we are good to go as planned, or if there is going to be another delay. 

Today is the day that I get another invasive ultrasound.

Today is the day I find out if my body is ready for me to become a mom.  (My mind is still in debate.) 

Today my head is going in circles.  I’m trying to calm myself down, and say that today is no different than yesterday, but it’s not.

In two hours my wife and I will know if we are closer to becoming moms. 

#119 Too Much (08/21/12)

Do you ever feel like there is just too much going on?  Like you are juggling and you start with one ball, then add another, and anther.  Three balls not too bad, but then more keep coming, you keep adding to the circle of balls you are juggling until you feel if anything else comes at you everything will come crashing down. 

Crohn’s is somewhat new to my life.  My mom lived with it from her 20’s and in the end died from a spinoff of the disease.  It is funny though, it never seemed to be a topic of discussion in our house growing up.  I knew she didn’t eat green vegetables as they hurt her stomach, and a few other things here and there.  She occasionally had to have Boost meal drinks on top of her meals to help boost her calories.  Over the years she had multiple surgeries to remove pieces of her intestine.  I’m pretty sure she was on prentizone to help manage the crohn’s.  Even though I lived with someone majorly affected by crohn’s all of my juvenile life, I don’t know much about the disease, probably more than the general population, but not much.  Now that I have it, (one juggle), my Virgo self needs to research it (two juggle). 

In the attempt to lose weight (three juggle) in order to get pregnant (four juggle) my wife and I are eating healthy, which is helping for the diet requirement for Crohn’s which was suggested, basically eat from the Canada Food Guide, and minimize animal fats. Originally I didn’t think that was much of an issue, but my wife brought up the question “Does that include dairy and eggs?”  In our house that is a major source of protein. Thus we may have possible major changes in diet (five juggle), but at the very lease tracking my diet through My Fitness Pal back to a higher degree of accuracy to get a better view of my macros, including the vitamins I take to make sure I’m getting the nutrients I need, especially for when I’m pregnant.

Also along the trying to get pregnant list, the polyp is the next issue (six juggle). Not a major thing (hopefully), but still something bugging my noodle. 

Then we have the general living category, learning to can fruit and deal with a mass harvest (seven juggle).  My job, thankfully isn’t that stressful, but does occupy a fair amount of my day (eight juggle), preparing the house for before I get pregnant (pre nesting), like personalizing the master bedroom (nine) organizing our storage (ten), clearing out non essentials to make room for baby stuff (eleven), preparing for the cruise (twelve).  That is a dozen things up in the air right now, some more stressful than others; the last one a good one, but we’ve never been on a cruise so I don’t know what to prep for. This is all stuff that is either a have to deal with or really want to deal with but I’m feeling very overwhelmed.  I just feel I could sleep for a week to let things settle in my head then have a game plan.  But for the most part, everything is happening as it happens.  As long as the dozen juggles doesn’t turn into a baker’s dozen before the cruise, I think the cruise will give me the much needed rest from the regular day to day to come back with Vim and Vigor to attack the next thing that needs to be dealt with.

#117 Crohns Diagnosis (08/20/12)

Well, today was the day.  I went for my follow up with the gastrologist regarding crohns.  This was part of my “So close, yet so far” post.   The good news is this shouldn’t affect my pregnancy.  The bad news is I have been diagnosed with Crohns.  Because of family history the minor issues have been treated seriously and testing was put through instead of put off.  It is because of the cautiousness of my doctor, it has been caught very early.  Right now there is just a small section of my small intestine that is slightly inflamed, and my blood levels are just a bit out of the normal. 

This news was a big of a blow, but not quite unexpected.  Today I will be picking up my first prescription of the first level medications for treatment/maintenance of crohns.  This medication, or a variation there of, I will probably be on for the rest of my life (or until possible cure in the future, but that is currently in dream stage).  The first level medications are a Class B, which is relatively safe to take during pregnancy.  This will hopefully reduce the inflammation, and keep my stomach in line for a long time, including in pregnancy.  The possible scary thing is, for people that get pregnant, one in three that have stomach issues will get worse during pregnancy or afterwards, if not in control of the issue in advance.  My doctor didn’t seem too concerned though because it has been caught early and isn’t doing any over and above damage, currently.  In this case, the sooner I get pregnant the better, before the disease has a chance to get worse (hopefully, if, not when). 

So, the next possible road block I need to handle before trying to get pregnant is the polyp.  Today is my day 1 of my cycle, which is right on schedule, so I will be having my SHG in the next 6-10 days to see what, if anything, needs to be done.

#102 Catch up (08/08/12)

Well, the crohns testing showed I do have an area that is inflamed, but wouldn’t tell me much more than that.  Hopefully I hear for a follow up soon.  If not I will call next week. 

Today my wife and I had our follow up with the fertility clinic.  We are both fertile, ovulating and having enough follicles, I have 15.  Our sperm choice has been narrowed though, as even though I am CMV positive which means I can choice either donor, my wife is negative, so if we want to use the same donor for each pregnancy, then we need to choose a donor that is also negative for CMV.  (Or infect my wife to make her positive before pregnancy, not an ideal option.)

The down side to the follow appointment was the next appointment I need, to look closer to my polyp.  When I originally saw it on the HSG it looked small, but I wasn’t looking at what the doctor was seeing.  In fact it is about 1 cm in diameter; I got to see the full picture today.  My doctor assured me that isn’t too big, but in the relative size to my uterus, I think it is.  So, early in my next cycle I go for an SHG (sonohysterogram).  It is similar to the HSG except with a saline solution instead of dye.  This will allow a clearer look at the polyp to determine whether it needs to come out or not.  My guess is yes it needs to come out.

I’ve said my body is a hoarder, but I didn’t realize it was also collecting polyps (I’ve had some removed from my colon).  My body needs to go through a de-clutter stage of getting rid of fat, water weight, and polyps. 

Weight wise, it isn’t going well.  It seems I reached the 10 pound mark and then lost a couple, gained them back, lost them again, but now they are back.  It seems these are the boomerang pounds that need to be broken of their habit of coming back.  Well, more of I need to get back into the habit of eating within calorie allowances truly, and then more exercise.  Bring back the good habits I was cultivating before the clearing of the house next door.