In April 2011 I began taking birth control pills (BCPs), which is the first step in the IVF protocol that Dr. K prescribed for me. There's also a variety of blood tests and exams that have to be conducted as part of the IVF checklist prior to starting fertility drugs. One of these procedures is a saline infused sonogram (SIS) to check the uterine cavity and make sure everything looks alright prior to doing the IVF. I had the requisite SIS done a few weeks ago and, surprise, surprise an "unidentified" uterine mass of some sort was discovered and much to both my and Dr. K's chagrin, I had to have yet another hysteroscopy (this is hysteroscopy number 4, for those who are counting).
This past Friday (May 6) was the procedure and we were anticipating that it would be pretty simple. I was even expecting to be able to attend a friend's birthday celebration later that evening. Since it was "just" a hysteroscopy I anticipated that I shouldn't have too much discomfort. I guess that's what I get for making assumptions!
What was supposed to be a fairly simple, routine 30 - 45 minute procedure turned into an almost 2 hour, extensive, uterine "cleaning". Dr. K ended up finding a lot of polyps (he said there were many more than what he was expecting based on the SIS) as well as some more scar tissue at the top of my uterus (similar location to where it had previously been removed during the June 2009 procedure)! He said he probably went a bit above and beyond what was necessary but he wanted to be sure that he got everything and that the uterine environment will be as clean and hospitable as possible. Also, since the procedure was so much more extensive than expected, he went ahead and inserted a stint/balloon to allow the lining to re-grow and the uterine walls to heal without touching and hopefully avoid any opportunity for additional scar tissue to develop. Needless to say, I ended up spending the rest of that day and night laying on the couch, catching up on the shows I have been DVRing over the past several months!
We now have to wait for the uterine lining to heal and re-grow and then I start BCPs again.
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