6 Months Later...

Unintentionally, I decided to write today, which is, ironically, six months since I last updated this blog. I decided to write today to address several topics: one-year anniversary of finding out I was pregnant with Maggie, update on the Fertility doctor, and my current health stuff. First of all, July 7th was a year since I found out I was pregnant and told my husband about our baby. It was the best day of my life, except perhaps my wedding day. I had cheapie HCG strips at home that I tested with first. I got faint positives and decided to stop by Target while running errands to pick up more tests. I went to Target later on that afternoon to do some shopping and picked up a box of First Response tests: one manual and one digital test. I was that girl who peed on a stick in the Target bathroom before driving to pick up my dog from the groomer's. Before I ran in to pick up my dog, I checked the FirstResponse stick and there were two lines. It was a faint positive, but a definite one. When I got home with my purchases from Target, I got to work planning my surprise for my husband.

I purchased a mug at Target that read, "Best Dad Ever", put the positive tests in plastic baggies, and stuck those in the mug :) I also wrote "The only thing better than calling you my husband is our baby calling you 'Daddy'. I'm pregnant!" on our bathroom mirror, so that he would see it when he got home and went to our closet (which was through the bathroom) to get changed. July 7th of this year was difficult. Not only was I depressed because I was pregnant a year ago and had no son or daughter to show for it, I was also depressed because I got my period. Wonderful addition of salt to a very open wound...

Next, the fertility doctor: my husband and I underwent genetic testing, various nutritional tests, he gave a sperm sample for evaluation, I had a hysteroscopy (the doctor said it wouldn't hurt...so uncomfortable!), and lastly, an HSG, which is a fancy word for an internal x-ray, which shoots contrast into the fallopian tubes to look for blockages. The results of everything came back completely normal, with the exception of the hysteroscopy and HSG.

Neither showed anything terrible, but the hysteroscopy indicated to the doctor that I have a septum in my uterus. And the HSG (another "slightly uncomfortable procedure...not unlike menstrual cramps". What BS that was! That x-ray was way more uncomfortable than the worst of my period cramps, and I have bad cramps!) showed a possible blockage in one of my fallopian tubes, The doctor didn't do any tests to confirm as he didn't think it was necessary. Worst case, I ovulate every other month instead of every month. The septum is easily corrected by surgery. The doctor told me it was a simple outpatient procedure that would take 15-20 minutes, and as soon as I was recovered, we would be permitted to try to have a baby. I also found out that I have a Homozygous copy of A1298C (MTHFR), but the doctor's opinion on that not having anything to do with anything remains.

Both images on the left are normal. The right are abnormal. Up top, you see two pictures of the uterus. The right side shows a septum; these can be different sizes. They can be so long that they cut the uterine cavity in half and they can be so short that they are hardly detectable. The bottom are HSG images of the Fallopian tubes. The left picture shows the x-ray contrast spilling out of both tubes, indicating no blockages. On the right side, you can see that the left tube is normal, with contrast spilling out. However, the right tube has no contrast coming out of it, which tells us that there is a blockage in that tube somewhere.

I'm not too worried about the tube blockage, because, with both of our angel babies, we conceived quickly. We never "tried" to get pregnant, but stopped preventing and decided that when it was meant to happen, it would happen. With Maggie, we had that discussion on June 1, 2017 and she was conceived around June 18, 2017. With our second baby, we stopped avoiding pregnancy the first week or so of November 2017 and conceived the week of November 13-17, 2017. So, making babies doesn't seem to be too difficult for us (knock on wood). We just need to figure out how to keep them healthy and growing. Finally, the doctor told me not to worry about getting this surgery until I figure out what is going on with my health, as that is the most important thing right now.

Speaking of health, I'm having a lot of things going on, and no doctor can find a clear-cut diagnosis. This all started in 2015, with slurred speech when I would run group therapy. I chalked it up to anxiety because running groups was not my thing and I got very nervous while doing it. However, it got worse. The slurring became gradually more apparent, to the point where I ended up getting anonymously reported at work for being "under the influence" (I was a Drug & Alcohol counselor, so that was only a little ironic and a lot of embarrassing).

Around Spring of 2016, my balance/coordination started to go, but I could hide it easily, by pretending I had a rock in my shoe or someone stepped on my foot, etc. if I stumbled. My speech was getting worse, but again, it was still "hide-able" by talking slow. I finally went to the doctor in October 2016 to see what these symptoms were. My PCP (Primary Care Physician) referred me to a Neurologist after doing several in-office tests on me. I saw the Neurologist in February 2017, after having a brain MRI, a hip MRI, and an EMG (Electromyogram- to look for pinched nerves, ALS, Myasthenia Gravis, etc.). The Neurologist essentially told me that everything was normal and sent me for blood tests.

Yet again, everything came back normal, so when I met with him for a follow-up appointment to discuss the results, I was talked to about a referral to a Psychiatrist. Yeah, okay. I was totally making everything up and some psych. meds would fix it all.... Fast forward to Spring 2018, when symptoms worsened to the point where I'm experiencing 1.5 pages of symptoms (if you'd like more info, send me a message), every day. The severity has worsened to the point where I'm no longer working, and my husband has experienced first-hand on several occasions, what these symptoms do. I have since found another PCP, as the first passed me off and did not follow-up with me at all. This PCP worked with me regularly until the end of April, when he called my husband and told him that he cannot keep treating me because whatever is going on is beyond his expertise, but he will do all that he can to ensure that I find the right person to help me. I am back with the original Neurologist and this time, he seems to be taking me seriously. He has not once mentioned a Psychiatrist, and for that, I am grateful. I have had an MRI and, most recently, a Spinal Tap. The MRI showed an abnormality, which could be totally benign, or it could mean something "bad". The Spinal Tap was then ordered to try and further explain the abnormality. The Results haven't come in yet, but I'll report more once I know. To say that a lot has gone on in the past six months would be an understatement. I am sorry for not writing, but when this length of blog entry takes about 3 hours of consistent typing, not typing or writing becomes a pretty easy choice.