Tiny Bubbles

I am cramping and bleeding!!!

You might wonder why that statement merits multiple exclamation points, but it's simple: I'm getting a period. That means that surgery seems to have made things better. With the Asherman's, my last pre-surgery period bordered on non-existent. That's because the scar tissue prevented an endometrial lining from forming. No lining = light period. No lining also equals nowhere for an embryo to implant. So evidence that my lining is restored is a big, happy deal.

This leads us to the next hurdle: tubal patency. In light of the infection I had in November, my cadre of medical professionals and I are all concerned about the condition of my tubes. If they're blocked, then I'm faced with the choice of IVF or the end of the road.

So it's time to test my tubes. But herein lies yet another problem: my last HSG went catastrophically wrong. It showed only one open tube and almost no uterus. Further, within hours afterward, I was swollen and in so much abdominal pain that I couldn't stand upright. My RE and I both suspect that the image was invalid because my body reacted badly to the HSG/contrast. All of this means that another HSG is off the table.

My OB mentioned a product called FemVue. FemVue's website, in addition to having a bunch of dumb looking women on it (actually, they look like smart women who have been told to look stupid for photos), will tell you that it uses bubbles and ultrasound to test tubal patency. There was one problem, though: my OB has never used it. She suggested I contact my RE to get her thoughts on testing my tubes. If my RE didn't have ideas, my awesome OB would learn how to use FemVue, and we'd proceed down that path.

So I talked to my RE's office. I had to make another appointment to talk to my RE, which sucks given my lack of insurance coverage, but falls under the heading of 'it is what it is'. The awesome news was that she's not only familiar with FemVue, but did research on it back in med school. I will be in very good hands with her. The less awesome news? Per my RE, her research findings were that women reported FemVue to be more painful than traditional HSG.

The end result is that I go in next Friday to see if bubbles can shed light on the status of my tubes. One more week and we'll know if there's a path forward or not. I'm scared. I'm not sure how much more bad news I can handle, but better to know than not, right?