HSG = Not Fun

Mr. D and I are now just waking up from completely hitting the sheets last night, totally exhausted. A few glasses of wine last evening helped us fall right asleep. :) Yesterday was the busiest, craziest day.

It started out at 6 am, when we both got up to put the finishing touches on our cleaning. Our Realtor was over at 9 am to take pictures. Our place is officially on the market! Holy crap, was that a process. Mr. D and I worked our TAILS off cleaning, organizing, and getting everything staged. It will all be worth it if someone wants to buy it! The house looks so good that it's hard to take anything out of its place.

We then went to lunch at my favorite little cafe prior to driving out to our appointment. My regular Doctor is on vacation this week, but was adamant that I get in for the HSG with another Doctor at a sister clinic. The clinic was about an hour away from our house. My appointment was at 1:30, but they got me into the X-ray room about 12:45. After I changed into hospital robes and booties, Mr. D and I sat in the room with the X-ray technician, Barb, for the next 45 minutes while she told us about the procedure. I think she could tell I was nervous, so she purposely stayed and chatted with us. She was super nice.

Around 1:30, the Doctor came in. He said a few words about what he was going to do, and got to work. He put the catheter-like instrument in first (painful part #1 that was described to me that I wrote about in this post). Mr. D was holding my hand, thank goodness. The catheter going in was painful, but manageable, and I could breathe through it. The Doctor said my uterus would be having small contractions, and I could certainly feel them.

Then, the crazy part began.

The doctor called in the X-ray Doctor to take pictures of my uterus and tubes (so, at this point, it is me on the table, 2 Doctors, Barb, and Mr. D in the room). I barely remember seeing the X-ray Doctor's face, because right at the time he came in the room, the other Doctor started administering the dye, and my whole body started to shake once I felt the uncontrollable, horrible, utter shock of pain (painful part #2 and #3 together). Everything was tingly, and I remember saying, "I think I am going to pass out," before everything went black.

I passed out and had a seizure on the table for about a minute and a half before coming back. When I woke up, I could hear the Doctor yelling to Barb, "CANCEL THE CODE - SHE'S WAKING UP" just as 2 additional doctors came rushing in. I could also hear an announcement over the clinic intercom: "CODE BLUE IN X-RAY; CODE BLUE IN X-RAY." I guess they have to call back-up in case my passing out was due to allergy from the dye and they needed to give me an epi-pen. Mr. D was there to witness it all, and when I woke up in a complete daze, the look of horror on his face is one I don't think I'll ever forget. I've been known to pass out before (lightheaded, dehydrated, etc), but never because of pain. Later, I found out that my eyes were wide open for about a minute, staring at Mr. D, as my legs and arms went completely crazy (I was kicking and punching and squirming - which was the seizure part) before completely passing out for about 15 seconds. Right when I woke up, the Doctor took the instrument out of me, and we were done. Thank GOD they were able to get the pictures they needed while I was passed out - the last thing I wanted once I woke up was to be told that we needed to do this all over again.

I ended up puking in a barf bucket on the table. Mr. D and Barb were putting cold washcloths on my forehead and neck, as I woke up in a pool of sweat. I could barely move. We stayed in that X-ray room for about a 1/2 hour before I could walk out to the little waiting room where I drank water and laid on Mr. D's shoulder. Barb put me in a wheelchair and wheeled me out to the car. I owe her the biggest thank-you note - she was so incredibly kind and mother-like. She gave me a hug as I got out of the wheelchair and asked to hear about when I do get pregnant. If and when that day comes, I promised her I would get in touch with her to share the news. And I meant it.

I slept the whole way home and woke up with feelings of dry heaving. It was horrible. Had I not seized and passed out, the procedure itself probably would have been not fun, but given what my body had been through, I felt like shit for a few hours with on-and-off feelings of passing out again, puking, and napping. Mr. D was there for me through it all. In a way, I felt bad asking him to come in the X-ray room with me, but looking back and given what happened, I am SO GLAD he was there. I can't imagine what his reaction would have been if they would have come out to the waiting room and said, "Sir, your wife just had a seizure and passed out and we need you to come back here."

So, for the procedure results. Results of the test are still being processed and I talk with my actual Doctor next week about really what is going on, but the Doctors, Barb, and Mr. D saw it on the screen as I was seizing on the table (and the Doctor kind of told me, too). The reason the shooting of the dye was so painful is that my left tube is pretty blocked. The right one shot out dye right away (Mr. D described it as an 'explosion'), which is great - meaning it's open, but the other tube expanded and the dye stopped right at the blockage. A little dye seeped through, meaning there is a little passage, but pretty much, it's blocked. GREAT. We'll see what all comes of that once my real Doctor is back next week. For now, it sucks to feel like I am the one contributing to the fact that we can't get pregnant, but I am trying not to look at it that way. Let's just hope that my right ovary releases this month so that when Mr. D's sperm swim up, they have a nice, non-blocked tube to travel down.

We went to dinner last night, which is what we both totally needed. Glasses of Cabernet, seared ahi, and shrimp pasta was the perfect ending to an otherwise-crazy day.

I will post again after I connect with my actual Doctor about next steps. I am calling a few REs today to see if I can get an appointment scheduled, knowing that this will most likely be the direction my Doctor will want me to go in.

Happy weekend, everyone!