Another Surgery on our Journey of TTC!

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I had my surgery.  I've sat down numerous times to write this blog post, but just can't seem to get motivated to finish it.

I had my second surgery on Thursday, November 21, 2013 to remove uterine fibroids.  It was a laparotomy myomectomy with a ureteral stint placement.  The surgery went fine, but took a little longer than planned because the fibroid was a lot bigger than expected.  Even with the uterine fibroid embolization procedure I had done last year, it was still really big!  Because of the size of it, and because Dr. Gentry had already made a 4 inch incision in my uterus and didn't want to make it any bigger, he had to go in blindly and cut the fibroid up into smaller pieces to get it out.

Last time I had asked Dr. G. to take a picture of it and he forgot.  I requested it again this time and he remembered.  Thanks Dr. G.

I don't remember any of the surgery, probably because of the good stuff they injected into my back right before I woke up!  #lovemyanthesiologist

While we were in the hospital, my incision had alot of drainage to it.  I remember going to the bathroom in the middle of the night and looking down and there was blood all over the floor.  I was completely freaked out and yelled for Shawn to get the nurse.  Dr. G. assured me it was normal and the nurses helped take care of it and changing the dressing and steri-strips.  Also when the original dressing was removed from my incision, it left 3 HUGE blisters on my stomach, so they were helping to treat those as well.

My recovery and stay in the hospital was as good as could be expected being in the hospital.  All of my nurses and techs were amazing!!  Shout out to Heather I., Brandi R., Julie S., Lorna B., Brenda L, Megan, Jo Beth B., Linda C., and good ol' Trazette C.  I remembered Trazette from my procedure last year at St. Mary's.  When she says something, you do it!  #lovemesomeTrazette

In fact, they were such amazing caregivers to me and to Shawn, and because almost all of them was jealous of my snuggly blanket I had on my bed, I ordered each one of them a big snuggly blanket from Kohl's the other day.  They are all sitting in the living still waiting on me to be able to drive so I can deliver them to the girls.

I had a hard time getting comfortable to sleep, and didn't get much sleep while in the hospital.  I'm still having a hard time sleeping at home.  I know over time, it will get easier, but come on already, this ol girl is tired!

No one came to visit us Thursday evening after the surgery, which I was actually glad.  I felt horrible and was so nauseated and throwing up.  We had quite a few visitors on Friday evening:  Mom, Shawn, Uncle Dave (thanks for the yummy soup), my friend Misty, Tina and David, Heather and Kristi (thanks for the yummy cookies and Thanksgiving meal), Angie, Alex and Allesha (thanks for the yummy cupcakes), Brother and Sister Heard (she actually checked on me each day we were there since she works at the hospital), and Phil, Susan and Kylie.  Shawn and I appreciated the company!

I also know that there were many, many, many people praying and thinking about us and we appreciate and love each of you very much!  Thanks to my momma for staying at our house with our animals while we were at the hospital and then helping to take care of my over Thanksgiving weekend so Shawn could go home and be with his parents.  Thanks to my amazing husband for your nonstop care and love!  He spent 3 nights and 4 days sleeping in the most uncomfortable chair and fold out bed so that I wouldn't have to call the nurse each time I needed something.  I'm pretty needy when I don't feel good and can't hardly get out of bed.

The picture below is of my fibroid.  That is one fibroid that Dr. Gentry had to go in blindly and cut up to be able to remove through the incision in my uterus.  He said it was about 8 inches in diameter.

Finally, food!  HAHA!!  My last real meal was Tuesday night.  Wednesday I had to do a bowel prep so all I could have was some clear liquids.  Thursday I couldn't have anything before the surgery, and after the surgery I was extremely ill!  So Friday morning for breakfast I had a grilled cheese and potato soup.  That was the yummiest meal!

Relaxing and waiting on the Dr. Gentry to release me.  #readytoblowthejoint

Love the beautiful colored roses and get well balloon my Shawnie got me!  

Get well flowers from my work

So now I'm at home relaxing and trying to take it easy and recover.  I've had good days and bad days at home.  I'm home for another two to four weeks depending on when Dr. Gentry is going to release me.  

TTC: All I Want Is A Simple Injection Please :/

I was suppose to call this month when I started my period because I have to start a 3-month series of the Lupron Depot injections before my surgery.  So Tuesday morning I called and left a message on Michelle's VM.  She's the surgery scheduler and the one I had been talking to the most.  I told her I started my period and then asked what date she scheduled my surgery for.  Last time I talked to her it was either going to be Nov. 21 at the Women's Hospital or Nov. 26 at St. Mary's.  She said when she found out, she would call.  I never heard back from them on my call Tuesday so I thought I would call them again today, because I knew there was a window of time that I needed to have the injection. 
 

Well Kristy (the receptionist) answered the phone and she's always so busy sounding and is always putting me on hold because the phones are ringing...no big deal, I understand.  I told her I needed to talk to either Michelle or the nurse. That's when she told me Michelle didn't work there anymore.  I told her that I left her a VM and what I needed.  She put me on hold to get my chart.  I was on hold forever.  I'm thinking she must of forgot about me cause when the phone rang back she answered it normal.  I'm like...it's still Stacey.  She apologized and said they were swamped and they had 10 transfers just today.  I'm thinking....get your current patients pregnant before taking on any new patients, but whatever!  She says shes going to get my chart and puts me on hold.  Again forever.  This time Tera, the nurse answers the phone.
 

So I have to tell her what's going on and she's like your surgery isn't scheduled yet,  I don't know why Michelle told you that.  We don't schedule surgeries that far in advance and that they only schedule them a month ahead cause they do so many.  Fine whatever, I tell her I prefer the Women's Hospital over St. Mary's and she said, well we don't do surgeries at the Women's Hospital.  I said apparently you did cause that's where I had my first one at.  She said maybe we used to but we don't anymore and she gave me some excuse.  Fine whatever, just schedule it and let me know when it is so I can get my work schedule figured out.  Then she wants me to either come in tomorrow or Monday at the latest to get my injection.  Tomorrow they are they from 8-noon.  Great I get off at noon, that's not going to work. So she wants me to come in Monday.  I told her I already have plans on Monday to go to Holiday World and I'll have Gavin with me.  She said well can’t you come in beforehand?  I would prefer not to.  So I'm like fine, I'll come in in the morning on my way to work and get it.  So I'm like well do you need to call the injection in or will the pharmacy still have it (they had already called it in once when I thought I was having my surgery this month, but I pushed it back a couple months)?  She said they should still have it.  Fine, I'll pick it up tonight and come in in the morning. 
 

So I call the pharmacy.  Of course they don't have the injection anymore and won't get it in until tomorrow sometime after 12 noon.  Ugh!  Beautiful.  So now I have to pick the injection up tomorrow on my way home from work, and then Monday morning before Gavin and I go to Holiday World, I have to run into Evansville and drag him with me.  Not that I mind taking him with me.  It's just aggravating that they should of called me back Tuesday so we wouldn't have to wait until the last day to get the shot.  

TTC: MRI results

We had an appointment this afternoon with Dr. Gentry to go over the results of my last MRI.  I had went into the appointment already upset because I had already been told that the results weren't very good, however they weren't what I was told.

Dr. Gentry said that the fibroid has shrunk some, but not much at all, but the blood flow had stopped so that was good.  He said surgery is definitely needed to get rid of the fibroid otherwise we will never get pregnant.

He offered us another option in place of him doing the surgery here in Evansville like I had in 2008.  He has a friend up at IU Medical that he wants to ask if she'll do a robotic myomectomy on me.  Basically the same surgery, just using a robot and a couple small incisions with a shorter recovery time.  He's going to ask the doctor to do it, and as long as she is OK with it, and everything pans out with my insurance, I'll be having surgery in June.

TTC: Another MRI :(

Last Friday I had to have another MRI done.  While this is not a painful thing to have done, I can tell you it gave me some anxiety issues starting the night before.  I was up and down all night thinking about having it done and how uncomfortable it is for me.  I had to keep praying about and asking God to help me calm my nerves and that everything would be OK. 

Going into the MRI, I expected everything to be exactly like it was the last time. 

Let me back track to that experience.  We got to the place where I was to have the MRI.  When they called me back, Shawn went back with me and waited in a little waiting room right out the MRI room.  I changed from my street clothes into a hospital gown and left all of my belongings in a little locked room and Shawn had the key.  I got on the table, they turned on music, and into the machine I went.  The music was WIKY and was nothing but commercials :(  That made for a long, long, long 45 minutes!  I also had some back pain from laying there for so long. 

Fast forward to Friday's MRI.  The lady called me back, so Shawn got up to go with me.  She told him, you can just wait out here in this lobby.  What?  Why can't he come back with me?  So he waited out there and I went back to the MRI.  She opened the door to the little room and I put my purse and bag in there and then she shut and locked the door and told me to come on back for the scan.  I'm thinking "What?  Aren't I going to need to change in there too?"  I'm still in my work clothes, bra, shoes, earrings, long sleeve sweater and all and she says to climb on up on the table.  I ask her, don't I need to change and take all this stuff off?  She said no, you are fine. I immediately ask for a pillow or something for the arch of my back cause last time my back/hip area hurt really bad after laying there for so long.  She can't use a pillow, but she gives me these two little wedges.  Yeah, those are gonna help.  NOT!  And I tell her that I don't want WIKY on the headphones and ask her if she can play KLOVE.  She said no, it's the radio so I can only get a few channels.  She tells me what they have and I opt for 99.5, country music.  I'm not sure why she can't get KLOVE, but whatever.  I ask her if I need to take my long sleeve sweater off cause I know she's going to need to inject that dye into my vein later in the scan. She said not really, you can just pull the sleeve up. Um, no thank you; I hate fat sleeves at the wrist, so I took my sweater off and handed it to her.  I climb up on the table and feel really weird with all that stuff on but she's the expert in this field, not me.  I ask if I can take my shoes off - my feet feel heavy laying there with shoes on.  So she takes them off of me and kind of flings them across me.  Weird.  Then I lay down and she puts the board over my pelvic area and straps me in.  She starts putting me in the machine and I get almost all the way in and I start freaking out again. This might be TMI for some right here...I guess laying there with my bra on and since I have such big boobs, I felt like they were up in my throat and I was feeling suffocated, especially since she still had to put those headphone things on me in that area too.  I asked her to please, please, please pull me out.  I asked if I could please take my bra off.  Here's another TMI for some....I figured once I took the bra off, those babies would kind of flop down to the side some.  She pulled me out, I sat up, and then had to work through the three layers of shirts I had on to undo my bra in the back and pull it out through all those clothes.  So I laid back down and she had to strap me back to the board and into the scan I went.  Awww, much, much better!  She starts the music and the scan.  The whole time I'm laying there, I'm thinking Lord, please let this go fast, I'm praying, I'm singing, and I'm coughing.  I'm doing everything I can to take my mind off the scan, yet still lay still.  Great, the radio is doing a telethon for St. Jude's.  There is hardly any music and lots of sad stories.  I'm miserable!  The one thing I DID like about this lady was she would tell me right before each scan/picture how long it was going to be....this scan will be 2 minutes, this next one will be 4 minutes, etc. and she would buzz in and ask if I was OK.  When I heard them say "this next one will be 2 minutes then we'll pull you out for a break to put the dye in and then you'll have 10 minutes left", I felt SUCH RELIEF!  I also had them change the radio channel at this point too.  I asked earlier in the scan, but I don't know if she didn't hear me or couldn't come in the room.  After it was over, I got up, gathered my sweater, shoes and bra and apologized 300 times for everything.  She let me in the little locked room, I got dressed, and then headed to the bathroom to re-fix my hair and put on my makeup so I could head to work.

Needless to say, I'm not a fan of those MRI and so glad I'm not claustrophobic cause I'm sure it would be ten times worse!!  And I hope I never have to have another one again!

TTC: Unsuccessful SIS

We had an appointment last Tuesday at Dr. Gentry's office to have a saline induced sonogram (SIS) done to check my uterine cavity and to possibly see how much the fibroid has shrunk, but mainly to see if Dr. Gentry could cath me so that he could perform a cath when we try our first artificial insemination (IUI).  Unsuccessful.  All of my female parts on the inside of me are not in their respectful places because of that fibroid.  So Friday I am having another MRI done of my pelvic area so that Dr. Gentry can see how much the fibroid has shrunk since the UFE (aka Surgery from H3LL) I had done back in the fall, to make sure the blood flow has stopped to that fibroid, and to see what all is going on because he thinks I am going to now need another abdominal surgery to actually remove the fibroid.  Looks like that $1,000 deductible is going to be met alot sooner than we even planned!

TTC: What a day yesterday was

I realized yesterday, by looking back through my blog, that back in 2008 when we were first starting with TTC and doctor appointments and taking fertility medicine that I blogged about all of that stuff.  Last year, I don't think I blogged about any of it.  I now know I need to start back with this again.  Those blog posts came in really handy with a little situation that came up with the fertility medicine I have taken. 

Yesterday was a very, very trying and tiring day for me.  Let me go back to Saturday evening when I got the mail.  There was an envelope in there from Meritain, my health insurance provider.  It was a different envelope than they usually send so I opened it up; usually Shawn goes through all the mail.  Inside the envelope was two letters from them saying that the insurance had overpaid for my fertility injections that I took last year because once I met the deductible, they only pay for 50% of them, and that we owed them close to $3,000.  I was confused and thought that they did something wrong because with all of the doctor bills and the surgery I had last year, that surely I would have met the deductible.  So I grabbed the medical file in our filing cabinet and sorted through everything to pull out everything related to our TTC journey and my surgery....EOB's from the insurance, doctor bills, hospital bills, etc.  I had already had alot of stuff in my other TTC folder so I put some organization into the two folders and then went through each EOB and bill and documented on an Excel spreadsheet everything that was paid to try and figure out what was going on.  Then on Monday I planned on calling the insurance to try and figure out what the letters meant.

Fast forward to yesterday.  I have a friend that works for my insurance company so she was going to call me at 10:15 on her break to help me figure out what the problem was.  In the mean time, I decided to call our HR lady at work to ask her where I could find our most recent paper that listed what our deductible was and listed what was/was not covered and at what percents.  She asked what was up and I told her about the two letters I got from the insurance and how I was trying to figure out what was going on.  She asked me to scan and email the letters to her and she would forward them our reps at the insurance company and at our brokers that handle the insurance to see what was exactly going on.  Through a few emails and phone calls, it was discovered that my insurance covers 50% of the injections/medicine once my deductible has been met and then I pay the other 50% (back in 2008 I understood this, but when I went to order the injections then the lady told me all I had to pay for was the prescription co-pays according to my insurance and that's all she charged me for, so that's all we've ever had to pay when ordering the injections).  Apparently my insurance has been paying 100% of this and shouldn't have been and it has just now gotten caught; thus the bill for $3,000 for the injections we took last year. 

I was so upset all day yesterday over this.  I was crying and every time I thought I would be OK, I would start crying again.  I had to end up leaving work an hour early so I could collect myself.  I was upset that we are going through all this, I was upset at the amount of money, I was upset knowing that we were going to have to start spending more money than we were prepared for or were used to paying, I was upset wondering what we are gonna do next since we have a doctor appointment Monday to move forward with TTC, I was upset because it's not fair that for whatever reason, I am being punished by God.  Once Shawn got home we were able to discuss a few options that we have.  We are going to continue with our doctor appointment on Monday and see what Dr. Gentry wants to do and then figure out where to go from there. 

Yesterday I was upset that I let the devil steal my joy and destroy me.  Today I'm giving God all the glory!  As I am always saying to others, God's Got This!  He is my provider and my strong tower!  I'm putting it all into his hands and praying for his will!

The Surgery from H3LL!

Back in October I had a Uterine Fibroid Embolization procedure done.  The surgery from h3ll!  Another roadblock in our journey of TTC!  Dr. Gentry seems to think that fibroid was in the way and instead of having surgery again, he opted to do UFE.  That procedure was 10 times worse than my abdominal surgery a few years ago to remove fibroids.  Instead of re-telling the story, I've copied my timeline of the surgery and days following the surgery from our TTC page of my blog.

 

9.5.12 - Bea with Dr. G's office called and said they are setting up my artery embolization (UAE/UFE) procedure and she will call me back with the details as soon as they have everything.

10.3.12 - Day of my UAE or UFE. Had to be at hospital at 7:00 a.m., procedure at 8:30 a.m. Procedure went fine. Recovery was hell! Lots of pain, nausea, vomiting, fever/chills, no appetite, no rest.

10.4.12 - Day one post-op - feeling somewhat better. Able to eat a little. Pain isn't as bed. Released from hospital at 1:00 p.m. Still not able to get comfortable to get any rest.

10.5.12 - Day two post-op - Shawn had to work today so I had him pick up my mom; I'm glad. I was miserable. Lots of pain, nausea, cramping, chills, fever, flu-like symptoms, constipated and bad back/hip pain from that, no appetite, not able to get comfortable to rest, used a heating pad alot. Called Dr. Gentry's office and was told to take Miralax and some Colace stool softeners; if no relief by Sunday to call back.

10.6.12 - Day three post-op - Mild cramping, constipated and lots of back/hip pain. FINALLY able to go to the bathroom some. More of an appetite, chasing Colace stool softeners with apple cider/Miralax cocktails.

10.7.12 - Day four post-op - Went to church this morning, then to take mom home. Completely wore out. Still constipated and uncomfortable from that, but having some small BM's. Noticed more abdominal pain today. Appetite back to normal, chasing Colace stool softeners with apple cider/miralax cocktails.

10.8.12 - Day five post-op - Didn't go to work today like scheduled. Finally able to rest and wanted to spend an entire day resting before getting back into things full throttle. Small BM's, still taking Colace stool softeners tho, abdominal cramps and discomfort, still using a heating pad, woke up with a cough, sore throat and achy ears (I know this is from Shawn - he caught something from the hospital!)

10.9.12 - Day six post-op - Feeling much better from my procedure; went to work all day today. Noticed when I'm up walking around alot or climbing stairs, the upper part of my right thigh gets really tired and achy. I've got some aches on my lower hips (not sure about this). I've been having BM's so that's good. On the other hand, I think I've got a sinus infection/bronchitis. I felt bad all day, with deep, pghlemy coughs, hot, tired and just achy.

10.10.12 - Day seven post-op - Surgery wise, I'm doing better. Went to my family doctor today and I have a sinus infection. He said it's from having a weak immune system right now, and the fact that there is alot of crud going around.

10.29.12 - Met with Dr. G for a post-op appt. Wants to see me back in 3 months to do an SIS u/s.

Each day gets easier and easier

Well I'm 10 days post surgery and feeling better and better each day. I stopped my pain meds a week ago and only take Tylenol if I feel bad. I still have trouble trying to get comfortable when sleeping in the bed, cause I am a stomach sleeper, but other than that I am feeling fine. Enjoying my time off before I have to head back to work. I'm at home at least for another 2 weeks until I see Dr. Gentry on August 4.

I've just been laying around the house watching TV, lots of HGTV to be honest. I've discovered that my fave shows are Clean House, Merge, and Deserving Design. I've also been watching reruns of the Cosby Show and forgot how funny that show is!!

Home Alone

Well I was completely lonely and bored today. Shawn had to go back to work and I was home alone all day. I slept in a little later than normal for me, then got up and ate breakfast and showered for the day before Shawn left for work. Then I was just lazy all day trying to find some comfort, but didn't have much success. I think I just spent the whole day going from playing on the computer, to watching tv, to trying to nap. I finally decided to try my hand at going up the stairs and seeing if I could find some comfort in sleeping in the bed upstairs. Much better! I was finally comfortable for a few minutes and got a cat nap in before Shawn got home. So I'm moving back upstairs and hopefully will be able to start getting some much needed rest.

I'm home from the hospital

Well I'm home from the hospital and doing better than I thought I would be. That first day after surgery, I thought I was going to die. I'm a whimp to pain anyways and was hurting bad. But after I got the "good stuff", I was all better. Turns out I had more than "one friend" in my uterus. I had a whole party going on "in there". All we knew about was the 1 large fibroid (about the size of a softball or a large orange), but hiding in the shadows were 11 more fibroids (about the size of a golfball). Dr. Gentry was able to get them all removed except for 1. That one is staying for now because it is to close to my cervix for him to remove it. Should something happen while he tried to remove it, he would of had to have done a complete hystorectomy on that and he knew I DID NOT want that done. So he left it in. Said it shouldn't cause me any problems physcially or while I am trying to get pregant. If for some reason it does, he can do something all artery embolization to block the blood flow to the fibroid.
So I'm at home for the next 3 weeks, just hanging out, and no driving for the next 2 weeks. I still have some pain when I'm trying to get in and out of bed and when I get up from sitting, but other than that, I am getting around pretty good.
Thanks for your prayers and thoughts while I was in the hospital and during my surgery. Thanks to those who visited me and called and those who brought or sent flowers, gifts, and goodies.
I also want to add that the nurses, techs, and staff at the Deaconess Women's Hospital are AWESOME!! They did so much to make me and my husband as comfortable as possible and put up with me constantly pushing the nurses button cause I needed something.

Below are a few pictures that were taken of me at the hospital and I had no control over them...


This was after they took me back to start the prep before surgery...



This was taken after I was out of surgery and in my room...



I'm getting ready to get a dose of the "good stuff"...


This is me trying to get some rest after I got the "really good stuff"...