Of course I survived…no one dies from an HSG right?!?!
As I sat on my own in the procedure room waiting for the doctor I noticed just how dated everything in this room looked. I also noticed two capsules stuck with cellotape onto the wall behind the head of the bed and the other on the needle disposal box. I was intrigued because they said ‘amonia’ on them. I wondered why these capsules were stuck there. As more time passed I finally figured out what it was for – smelling salts for passed out patients! There was a piece of paper stuck on the wall that gave steps of what to do in an emergency – the kind of emergency when patient passes out and you have no clue what is wrong with them. The first step said: Keep calm! I found this quite amusing that a doctor/nurse needed to be reminded to keep calm first of all. One of the other steps described how to use the ammonia capsule to see if the patient ids responsive. There was another sheet of paper stuck on the wall next to these emergency instructions, giving instructions for what to do if a patient was having an allergic reaction. I suppose some poor people in the past have found out that they truly are allergic to shell fish or iodine as a result of this HSG procedure! So I guess you can die from an HSG afterall.
After waiting for 20 minutes ready to go, the doctor came in and introduced herself – as if I had never met her before. She didn’t recognise me at all. Even with my British accent she didn’t recognise me and proceeded to ask me questions as if I was a new patient. Considering the number of times she has seen my vagina and cervix (I can count 8 monitoring appointments and 2 inseminations) I was a bit upset by this fact.
So we got down to the business….and the procedure hurt so much that I had tears in my eyes. It was all over after only 5 minutes, but they were a painful 5 minutes. I peeked at the video of the x-ray as she was cleaning me up. I could see my upside down uterus and the dye free flowing through my tubes. And then something weird happened – my uterus flipped upright at the end of the procedure! I felt her do something weird, did she manipulate my uterus? Or was it just the xray moving to a different position? Logically the latter doesn’t make much sense…but then again neither does the manipulation! I’ll know exactly what happened when I go for my baseline ultrasound in the new year.
Good news is that I passed the test!! IVF round 2 is on in the new year!!
After the procedure I went back to the waiting room to pick up Chris because he wasn’t allowed in with me. And there sitting in the waiting room was someone I knew. It was funny because Chris was sat with his back to them and he didn’t realise he knew them. It was a bit of a bizarre moment because I guess we didn’t really know what to say to each other. I don’t know why they were there specifically, but I feel a little sad that infertility affects so many of us around us we just don’t know about. Today was just another reminder of that fact. Infertility – you truly are a sneaky bag of crap.
Glad it went well (despite the discomfort)! It’s funny how we’re just numbers sometimes. Not the haha type of funny. More like sad.
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Thanks!!! Yes it is kind of sad…but I guess there are a lot of infertile couples out there that need treating! Now that is definitely sad 😦
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Yes, completely sad.
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I’m so glad you survived! And I’m thrilled everything looks good and you get to start your next cycle so soon!
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I’m sorry it hurt so much; looks like we both had painful days (sonogram of my uterus). But… yay for a green light!
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Eughhhh yes I read your post at work today, you poor thing 😦 The things we do…..!!!!
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Glad you made it through without needing the smelling salts. 😉 So weird that Dr didn’t twig to who you were. Some medical professionals could do a much better job of that!
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Thank you! Yes that is a good measure of success!! No smelling salts required!! Hehe.
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Ah – that was my number one fear, that we would see someone we knew! Eek. Not that I’m ashamed of it but British awkwardness I think! I’m glad you survived and are on for round 2!
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I knew I would probably bump into someone I know at some point because my doc said that she had other people from my work there at their clinic. It’s kind of sad isn’t it? this secret club. I feel like I’m an experienced expert on the subject now that I just want to offer my hand, but I decided to not talk about it unless they want to talk about it because that person knows I’ve been through IVF and going again in Jan. So I hope it won’t be too awkward :-s
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AHHHHHH, I am so sorry!!! I LOATHE THE HSG TEST!!!!!! Had mine lasted another second the 1st time around, I would’ve asked my dr to stop. So happy you’re on for round 2!!!!! ❤
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Ahhh, I’m really not looking forward to doing this again. You just confirmed my memory that it sucked!
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Oh noooo, I’m sorry. I definitely didn’t want to remind you of the bad! But I can say that this time around, although the procedure hurt more than the first time, the recovery was amazing. Last time I was in pain for a good 24 hrs afterwards, curled up on the sofa with a hot water bottle. This time, I didn’t even need to sit down and had no pain. I had a couple of twinges today, but no way near as bad. So I really do hope it is easier for you this time around!!!! It just sucks 😐 x
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I’m glad the pain went away quicker for you this time!
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So glad that the HSG is over and you can put that behind you. That’s awesome that you are able to move forward now. xo
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Sorry it was painful. But its behind you now yay!! Yay for progress! I guess I should be happy my clinic is a million miles away from anyone I know, I wouldn’t know how to react. But maybe you just made a new best friend?
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sorry it was painful that sounds no good at all! Glad that the new years is going to be a fresh start!!!
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I’m so sorry it sucked! Crazy that your uterus flipped during the procedure. Did the doctor shed any light on what that happened?
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It was really weird, it looked like it was pushed up quickly. The doc was really not talkative, I had to ask her if everything looked OK (although I could clearly see the free flow through my tubes) she said yes all OK and just walked out quickly with her student!! I’ll ask my doc about it when I see her again.
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