The Clinic Within: Part Two

The doctor was an older man, someone I typically would have avoided, as I prefer female doctors. This guy, however, is widely regarded in his field and the clinic is considered the best place to go for infertility.

He introduced himeself to us, then went over our medical records a second time, covering some of the details that the resident had. He pointed out that I appeared to be ovulating (I'd brought in two months of basal temp charts), and that I was relatively young (35). Again, we covered the basics of my history: type 1 diabetes, abdominal tumor a few years back, some retinopathy, etc., etc. He recommended I get day 3 bloodwork to see how my ovaries were doing. I'd already had this done on my own, back in November, but he wanted to repeat things to see where they stood. The November results were OK, although my estradiol (which tells you if your body is working too hard to produce an egg) was slightly high. My FSH (follical stimulating hormone) and TSH (thyroid levels) were fine.

We also talked about Mr. Lyrehca's health, his high blood pressure and the drug he takes for it (it can affect the sperm in some minute way), and talked about scheduling a sperm analysis.

The doc also recommended I get a HSG (hysterosalpingography) test, which is an x-ray of your fallopian tubes and uterus while they're injected with dye to see if there's any obstructions or abnomalities within. I'd been wondering if I could get a test like that, so while it doesn't sound pleasant (it's on for this Monday afternoon), I'd like to know what's up downstairs and if there's a blockage, it would explain the months of fooling around without a fertile result.

The doc did a vaginal, breast and thyroid exam, and said everything seemed normal.

Back in his office, he said, depending on whether my FSH/TSH/estradiol levels were OK the second time and if the HSG test was normal, he wouldn't be concerend if we wanted to keep on trying to conceive naturally for a few more months, then consider taking Clomid for up to three tries, and then IUI and then IVF. Of course, without the results of any updated test, this was all just speculation.

We left the office nearly two hours later. Mr. L. had to run back to work for a meeting, and I went to have blood drawn for the day 3 test (conveniently, the period timed itself so that my day 3 was the actual day of the appointment. Here's just one rare example of my body doing something I'd like it to be doing.)

Call tomorrow for the results of the bloodwork, they told me.

A day later, I did just that.