Surgery Day

June 06, 2014

We woke up refreshed that morning, and Justin went downstairs and had what he described as an “amazing” breakfast while I was upstairs in our room getting ready.

We swooped by the pharmacy at 9:55, picked up the antibiotic which was packed in very well with ice, then we eared-back on the toll road to Medical City.  I have no idea how we did it, but we were 20 minutes early!  We got up to the doctor’s office, and they took us back and gave me a “cute” hospital gown to change in to. 

The anesthesiologist came in and started searching for a vein for my IV.  Bless his heart.  I have the smallest and fewest veins on the planet.  But he was determined.  And he dug and dug and dug, until neither of us could take it any longer.  Finally, he ended up inserting it into my left hand.

I went back to the ice cold operating room, I climbed up on the little table, and he started the medicine through my IV.  I remember him telling me that he didn’t want to put it into my hand because the medicine “aches” when going through the tiny hand veins.  And it did.  We were talking about traffic and construction and then, in less than a minute, I was out.

I woke up about 30 minutes later with some mild cramping, but for the most part, feeling good- especially compared to my horrible, extensive surgery two years prior.  They gave me a little medicine through my IV for pain, and a grape Capri Sun since I was incredibly thirsty.  I later found out that this was the same anesthesia medicine that Michael Jackson overdosed on, which freaked me out just a little. 

And… Great News!!  The endometriosis had not returned, only the cyst.  Dr. Saleh was able to aspirate it with the super long needle, and then he injected the antibiotic to keep cysts and endometriosis away while we go through IVF.  But, the best news- we are free to continue on to the next step, and we do not have to wait 6-8 weeks!!!

 
On the way home, we stopped quickly to pick up movies and Chinese food, and made it to the house in time for me to eat about 5 bites, see about 3 minutes of American Hustle, and then fall sound asleep.

The Day Before Surgery

Dr. Saleh had prescribed a medicine needed to be injected in order to keep away the endometriosis and cysts.  This medicine comes in the form of a liquid antibiotic and is only available at very few pharmaceutical companies.  Because once it’s made, it has to be kept cool and only has a lifespan of about 12 hours, so we had to pick it up the morning of the surgery from a pharmaceutical company near Dallas Love Field Airport.  Which was completely beyond and out of the way of our doctor’s office at Medical City.  Our instructions were to pick this medicine up at 10:00am and be at our doctor’s office at 10:30am, and my surgery was scheduled for 11:00am.  I was so worried that we would get stuck in rush hour traffic or wrecks or construction along I-30 and wouldn’t make it anywhere on time, so we decided we would just get a hotel room next to the pharmacy and make a day of it.

We stayed at a nice hotel (5 minutes from the pharmacy) with a nice pool, which we swam in for hours that afternoon!  Then we went for dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack for my last meal, since I wasn’t able to eat or drink after midnight and didn’t know when I would be able to the next day.  We ended up having such a fun, relaxing time, that for a brief second, I almost forgot why we were really there.

May 19, 2014

We went back in on May 19^th to do what seemed like a hundred tests and procedures.  They took several tubes of blood from each of us for different genetic testing and other tests, and I did a urinalysis as well.  Then Dr. Saleh did a mock embryo transfer to check for any complications that may arise during the actual embryo transfer.  This is where they run a small catheter to my uterus to make sure the “road” is clear so we won’t have any surprise problems arise when we go back in a couple of months to place the embryos in my uterus.   

So far, so good. 

 

Next, he did a fluid ultrasound to check for endometriosis or cysts caused by the endometriosis.  More bad news.  A large cyst on my left ovary.  If the endometriosis has come back, I would have to be treated with an antibiotic and then wait 6-8 weeks to see if it works before proceeding to IVF.  An embryo won’t survive if it’s placed into a toxic environment filled with endometriosis.  So, we schedule another surgery for me to come back and have the cyst aspirated (fluid sucked out by a huge needle), check for endometriosis, and inject an antibiotic to hopefully keep everything at bay.

 
Also, because of the cyst and possible return of endometriosis, Dr. Saleh had more blood work performed on me to check for Natural Killer Cells.  Normally, Natural Killer Cells are a good thing because these are the cells that attack foreign objects in the body.  They always seem to be present if endometriosis is present, possibly because they’re trying to fight it off.  Unfortunately, because their job is to attack foreign objects, if an embryo is placed in the uterus with these cells, they’ll most likely attack it too.  A few days later, the test confirmed that there are Natural Killer Cells present.  Luckily, there is an intralipid infusion that can deactivate these cells.  I’ll go to the doctor probably three times during our IVF cycle, and they’ll hook me up to an IV filled with an intralipid solution.  I’ll sit for about two hours while the IV does its thing, then I’ll be free to go about my day and shouldn’t feel any side effects.  This solution should deactivate the Natural Killer Cells so that they don’t attack the embryo when the doctor places it in my uterus.  

Dr. Walid Saleh

Because we attended the seminar, we received a free consultation with Dr. Walid Saleh at Sher Institutes.  On March 11, 2014 he went over the whole process with us, and then they did blood work to determine my egg reserve.  A week later we received our very first ever good news throughout this journey so far- “Congratulations!  You have an excellent egg reserve!”  This meant I had plenty of good eggs!  It seems so silly, but when you’ve gotten bad news on top of bad news on top of bad news for the past four years, the slightest bit of good news is enthusiastically accepted! 

We went back on March 28^th for Justin to do another semen analysis since it had been two years since his last test.  Once again, good news, and we get the go ahead to move forward to the next step.

Sher Institutes of Reproductive Medicine (SIRM)

During our time of saving and praying, one of my best friends called me one morning, all kinds of excited!  “There’s an IVF seminar in Dallas and they’re doing a drawing for free IVF and we have to go!!!”  So we did.  I didn’t win the free IVF, but I really enjoyed the seminar and the way the doctor spoke with such ease about this whole terrifying adventure and how comfortable they made us feel.  Also, I appreciated it when the doctor announced to everyone to keep in mind that they are not trying to play God, and in the end, God will always have the final say.  This just put my worried mind to rest a little more, about not going against God’s will for us.

A year later, this seminar came around again.  This time Justin went with me.  We didn’t win this time either, but your heart can’t help but burst with happiness for the deserving, lucky couple that did.  You know their pain.

After the seminar and after tons of research and spreadsheets (I’m the queen of making spreadsheets!) and statistical comparisons, we decided to go with Sher Institutes as our infertility specialist.