Thursday, December 13, 2007

IUI #6 complete

Lots of catching up to do. I wanted to post last night about the events of yesterday but my laptop has suddenly decided that I don't need to surf the web. AS IF.


Okay, after my lumpy boob episode, I called the hospital and was able to get an appointment on the 20th for an ultrasound.

At the encouraging of a friend, I made another couple of calls and found a place that could see me yesterday. So, yesterday I went for my ultrasound.

The ultrasound tech was less-than-pleasant. She had me point out the lump, marked it with a marker, then squirted u/s lube all over my boob. As she rubbed the wand over my boob she looked as though she'd just bitten into a lemon. I asked if she was having trouble. She sort of dismissed me and asked me to find the lump again. Then she rubbed some more. She still looked perplexed. I asked if she was not seeing anything. She replied, "Well, I'm scanning where you SAY you feel the lump."

Umm.. WTF bitch? I'm making up a lump? Because my idea of a good time is to plop my boob out for a surly chick with a bad hair cut and let her poke at it? I explained that I was not the one that found it- my doctor was. That yes, I can feel it now that it's been pointed out to me, so yes, I DO feel a lump.

She threw a towel over my boobs and told me not to wipe anything off, she'd be back.

She came back in and told me I was having a mammogram. Yes, music to a big boobed girl's ears. I just love my life. She had me get cleaned up and lead me down to the mammography area.

Fortunately, the mammogram tech had a FAR better personality. She had me find the lump (the original mark being gone from washing the 10 gallons of KY off my tit) and immediately said she could feel it. Good to know I'm not alone in my delusions.

Then the smooshing began. Honestly, the smashing wasn't the worst of it. That part really wasn't too bad. Only one of those actually hurt. It's the positioning that sucks. They have to get ALL of your tissue on the plate. So the plate is jammed into your ribs and they pull on the skin under your arm, above & below your boob and smash it in the machine. Oh, and of course, being large breasted, I had to hold the other one out of the line of sight of the machine. Sometimes I really wish these things were detachable.

Once that was done, she had me cover myself and then went to get the radiologist.

Essentially- they see nothing. Neither test revealed any anomalies. Per the radiologist, that usually means it's just normal breast tissue. But in some circumstances it could be something. I'm to follow up with my doctor. They may opt to biopsy it, they may opt to watch it. Who knows.

I feel 95% better about my boob.


In addition to my hectic day yesterday, I got a positive OPK. (Yeah, I was surprised! It worked AND was positive?) I was surging on my own a day earlier than they expected.


So, IUI #6 was today.

It went......okay.

There was little pain, which was nice. But we only had 4 million sperm. Obviously better than the 500,000 we had last month, but still firmly in "shitty" territory.

My nurse asked me if we were ready to talk about other options. She mentioned injectables/IUI and IVF. I told her my insurance is changing Jan 1 and I wasn't sure what sorts of hoops we would have to jump through so yes, we realize we're going to have to explore other options, but we don't know what all is involved yet. She recommended that if we get a negative this month that we set up a talk appointment with my doc & discuss where to go from here.

Honestly, if my insurance will let us move to IVF, I think we will just go for it. I dread it. My ovaries have hurt like HELL the last 2 days and that's with 7 follies. I can't imagine what 15 or 20 would feel like. But I also realize that we're probably just delaying the inevitable here.

So, I guess we wait and see. Of course, everyone is hopeful that this will work, but realistically, I have to look ahead.

The good part is that I had emotionally prepared myself for the low # so there were no tears today. 10 or 20 million would have been great, but I knew what we were getting into. So I'm okay.


All in all, it's been one heck of a week. Four trips to the doctor in four days. You'd think I was 81 instead of 31.


Thank you to everyone who responded about my boob crisis. I really, really appreciate the love & support I get from the community.


--Trish

13 comments:

Jenn said...

I hope your boob ends up being ok. Nothing like a good boob-smashing to start the party. I wish you all the best with this IUI. You really sound like you're in a good state of mind. I admire your attitude and strength. Let me know if you need anything!

Malloryn said...

Wow, that ultrasound tech needs a serious attitude adjustment! When someone in a position like that hates their job that much, it might be time to look for a new career. How you can berate women who are obviously scared and uneasy about the whole process already is beyond me!

I'm glad to hear that the preliminary assessment looks good.

Wow and an IUI as well... I hope you're getting frequent visitor points from your doctors ;) I'm crossing my fingers for good test results all around.

AwkwardMoments said...

U/S all over hte place .. I Am glad tht you O'd on your own that is excellent and good luck to the lil swimmers! Swim, Swim, Swim meet that egg!

I really do hope for hte best with the IUI and the Boob situation

Fat Girl said...

This is great news for today! I'm glad you were able to get some feedback about your boob early. 95% is very reassuring!

As for the IUI, maybe you will beat the odds this month. It is possible. You sound like you are in a pretty good place right now. I'm still praying for you.

Me said...

I am glad to hear that the Boob Crisis will likely not be upgrated to a Boob Catastrophe.

I hope your insurance covers IVF and will let you move there sooner than later!

Meghan said...

So glad things went well with the boob. My experience was exactly the same (except is started with the mammo and ended with a male u/s tech with a just as bad attitude being WAY too rough with the wand). The little lump I had comes and goes and they just monitor it. It's been 2 years and they see no reason for any more tests. Hope you get the same results

And good luck with this IUI. You've got a ton more swimmers and a decent # of targets (I just want more than 1 follie this time), hoping it works for you!

Maria (MKC101103) said...

I hope all continues to go well with your boob, and LOL about the KY on your tit. YOu have such a great sense of humor!

We got a BFP with 2 million swimmers so I'm very hopeful for you. Sticky dust to you!!!

Anonymous said...

Hooray for the boob!

DreamCatcher said...

You did better at not telling that u/s tech off than I would have been. There's no excuse for acting that way. I'm glad they believe that it's nothing serious and hope you will be able to relax a little now. Glad the IUI went well and look forward to some good news soon. *Huggles*

Marz said...

whew, glad to hear the boob thing is nothing.
Good luck with the rest of the procedure, hopefully you won't have to think about other options after this month.
However, I have a friend who took 5 years to conceive her daughter & then tried on her own for 4 months while waiting for IVF appointment. They decided to forgo the heartbreak & the time it would take them to ttc on their own again. Anyways, the procedure was in Sept, they had 2 implanted & 1 survived so she is now happily preg with their 2nd child.
So basically moral of my story is that if you think you can just go right for th IVF, you may save yourself a bit of time & heartbreak that way. Good luck with your decisions, they're not easy to make.

Osh said...

I'm glad you didn't have The Great Blue Boob Tsunami like I did!

Janna said...

I'm glad to hear that everything with the boob crisis turned out to be okay. And YAY for O!!! I hope this one is IT!!! Swim little guys swim...get that egg!!!!!

Macchiatto said...

awesome about your OPK+! that's exciting. i've been praying every day that this cycle is THE ONE, but we'll see. and if not i hope everything works out for IVF asap.