Sunday, August 28, 2011

Twiddling thumbs

HSG completed.  Heather went in, solo, on Thursday, got 'er done.  The results looked good, but need to be thoroughly examined before Dr. C can give us an official thumbs-up.  We're used to waiting, so it feels about right.

Heather has some magical insurance through her Indian tribe (a family that, from cursory observation, does not struggle with infertility), so she paid only 10% of the fee-- $280.  This is especially magical, given that our regular insurance has a $1,000 deductible, and that someone without insurance would be stuck with a motherfucking $2,800 tab.  So we're very lucky.

So far, we seem to be lucky about the results, too.  (To the right is a picture of Heather's previous, bullshit ultrasound, and you can go back to this other entry about HSG to see what a real, non-bullshit test looks like.)

Heather said things were pretty low-key during the procedure, and not as painful as we anticipated.  She did, however, stop the nurse to say that regular insertion of the speculum would not do and that she needed to flip it upside down.  The nurse was surprised and said it was a great tip, since she had a tilted uterus, too, and exams hurt her a lot.  The catheter insertion was painful anyhow, but not unusually so, and Heather was philosophical about that, and what bugged her the most is that the remaining dye (actually clear, not crazy blue like I imagined) dripped out a little throughout the day, requiring a pad.

The doctor (not Dr. C, but a radiologist whom Heather described as "a kid") said everything looked good, but she'd have to take a closer look to be sure.  I don't know what that means-- How long does it take to stare at an X-ray?  Do they scan it and zoom in?-- but I'm content to believe that there aren't any problems, so it's not a painful wait by any means.

The only thing is...  What now?  I guess we wanted the answer to be that everything is unblocked and un-leaking, but where does that put us?  Are we back in the "just a matter of timing" place?  Or do Heather and Dr. C have other plans?  Do we start back with ICI, or are we going to explore hormone therapy?  How long till Heather totally freaks out and chooses IVF?

I'm not sure when we're supposed to hear the details.  Does Dr. C call?  Does the hospital call?  Do we call?  I told Heather that I'd call Tuesday if we hadn't heard by then, and presumably we'd go back to see Dr. C and talk about our options.  I can't help assuming that our options are a) keep doing what we're doing forever and ever and ever or b) shooting up with Clomid or estrogen or whatever they use.  Either option puts Heather's body and money on the line.  The only thing is that the second option is new.  To me, that's scary.  To Heather, I think it's hopeful.

That's the safety of waiting.  You don't have a "no" and you don't have a choice.

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