My Fertility Story: A New Hope

Jason and I went together to my first appointment with my new doctor. We answered lots of questions, and I had an ultrasound. The doctor came in at the end of the appointment and told me two things. First, she told me that she was pretty sure that I had polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), but she needed to do blood work to make sure. Secondly, she told me that she was pretty sure that we would have another child. I left her office with new hope, a new lifestyle, and orders for the blood work. My hope sustained me as I went through being stuck 10 times in 24 for blood draws and as I drastically changed my diet to accommodate this new condition that I had. During this time, Jason was also tested for the first time. At our next appointment, I was told that I definitely had PCOS, and we were told that Jason's results were okay (but not great). As the doctor was looking through my chart, she noticed there was a missing test. I had not had a HSG. Normally, she schedules this during the first appointment, but it had been missed during mine. Instead of leaving this appointment with a plan of action, I left with an order for the test when it fit into my next cycle. My HSG finally happened (after waiting in the holding room for several hours in my hospital gown), but the results showed a small problem. I was told that it might be a fibroid, but I would have to have another test to make sure. Since it was almost Christmas by now, I had to wait several weeks for this next test. When it happened, the doctor told me that she found two fibroids. I would need surgery (possibly even two) to remove them. Since she was performing this surgery, she also recommended that I have an ovarian drilling procedure. This is done to reset ovaries that have experienced PCOS. I went into the hospital to have both of these procedures on Valentine's Day. The ovarian drilling went well, but there were no fibroids when she went to remove them. While all this was happening, Jason had been tested several more times, and the results were not good. We were referred to an urologist, but he could find nothing wrong with him that we could treat. By this time, it was May. We met with our doctor again who told us that with our results she felt that IVF would probably be our only chance at having more children. She asked us to think about whether we wanted to do the procedure, and she scheduled an appointment a couple of months later. We came to that appointment to tell her that we were ready, and she came to that appointment to tell us that she was leaving the practice. We were told that she would be going to a new practice downtown that fall. She said that if we would wait she would start up with an IVF cycle as soon as she got started. She directed us to call a certain nurse at the current practice for news of when she would start her new job. I called the nurse several times. Each time, I heard a different story. Finally, I went on-line looking for her. I found that she had accepted a new job in Illinois so I called to schedule an appointment with a new doctor. We had now been trying for 3.5 years.