Diagnosis

 

After trying to get pregnant for 2 years (not even a late period).  Well realistically we should have gone earlier with my age (currently 38) however, I had a feeling it was bad news so I was avoiding it.  I actually googled a couple of times if my painful periods were normal.  I came across endometriosis but I felt like my symptoms weren't bad enough to be that. I also didn't want to acknowledge it was that serious.

Anyway in the clinic she was getting ready to do a smear test as it had been a year since my previous one.  The first thing she said was, has anyone ever told you, you might have endometriosis.  No I said.  In my head I was having flashbacks of previous smear tests.  A couple of times I was getting a smear test done and the doctor said something about seeing a thick lining or wall, I can't remember the exact words.  I didn't think anything of it as he just said, we'll see what your results say and take it from there.  Since my tests came back with no problems it was never investigated further.  It does make me wonder if doctors are, these days, only interested in getting you out of their room so they can quickly move to the next patient and make as much money as possible by keeping the number of patients they get through in a day high.  

Back to my fertility testing.  She did a uterus ultrasound and when I saw the screen I could see it.  One ovary looked different from the other.  She confirmed that it was endometriosis and also looking at the other ovary she said there was 4 follicles and she would have liked to have seen 5! Great I thought.  She then sent me for an mri to see how far it had spread, she particularly wanted to know if it had spread to the bladder area.  It had not, she said there was growth on my uterus and that one ovary.  

She then went on to explain that she did not recommend surgery as that may damage the ovary and eggs.  If there is complications removing the cyst from my ovary then they would remove the entire ovary!!  Then came the talk about IVF which I was very open to and hopeful it would help me get pregnant.  That was until she said there was a 30% chance it would work.  She may as well have said 0% because that was what it felt like at the time.

I came away from the fertility clinic that day feeling very overwhelmed with all the information and the diagnosis itself.  I did also feel relieved that I wasn't paranoid that my periods seemed to be more painful than normal.  I had never openly spoke about my painful periods to anyone, I just assumed periods were meant to be painful and heavy and just all round horrible.  They are not! I will do a separate post on periods as during my research into endometriosis I have learnt your periods can help you discover if you have endometriosis.  

I went to the fertility clinic in January 2023, it is now May 2023.  I have not gone through with any treatments yet.  I am working on my health and getting my body in the best possible shape before getting any treatment.  I'm also hoping I won't need the treatment.  I have 3 months to find out, however, I don't know if I will do IVF.  I may try the cheaper option first with IUI (artificial insemination).  She did say that had a 11% chance of working as the tubes may be blocked.  I would have to have a treatment where they put dye into my tubes to see if there are any blockages first.  But that is for a future post.  In the next posts I am going to tell you what I have changed in my lifestyle in the hope to get pregnant naturally or in the hope to get my body in the best health to do the treatment.  Because in case you didn't know those who do get pregnant with endometriosis are at a higher risk of something going wrong, for that reason I want to give my body the best possible chance of getting pregnant and have a healthy pregnancy.  

I hope you will find my posts both informative and if you are going through a similar journey, just that this blog may show you that you are not alone.  Until the next post!