So we made the big decision.
(Drumroll)
We’re going to try a cycle without treating the hydro, and
if it doesn’t work I’ll have the surgery.
Anyone who Googles “hydrosalpinx” is going to think I’m
crazy; everything you read says that if you don’t have the surgery you’re
sentenced to a childless doom, which you’ve brought onto yourself through your own
stupidity. However if you are crazy
enough to venture onto page 17 of search results and start reading actual
medical studies and medical textbooks (thanks Google books!), you might discover
that this prognosis is based on situations that meet certain criteria….
- The hydro is in a closed tube (in fact, some sites seem to think the tube being closed is part of the very definition of a hydro)
- Both tubes have hydros in them
- The hydro is large enough to appear on an ultrasound, not just an HSG
When all of those terrible factors are present, the hydro halves the pregnancy rate. Given that my chance if the hydro wasn’t there would be somewhere between 50 and 60 percent, worst case scenario I still have a 25-30 percent chance of getting pregnant. My hydro, of course, is only in one tube, that tube is open, and my doctor mentioned nothing about seeing it on the ultrasound (he’ll have another chance to check on Monday). Therefore, I’m going to guesstimate that my chances aren’t reduced by the full 50 percent. That leaves my chances at, what, 35-45 percent? Does that seem fair? THOSE AREN’T TERRIBLE ODDS, INTERNET!
It seemed worth it to give it one shot without
the surgery. Unnecessary surgery, even laparoscopic surgery, is bad,
and if I do manage to get pregnant, maybe the pregnancy will wring the fluid
out of my hydro, the baby will slough off some stem cells that will find their
way into my tube and repair it, and ta-da! My tubes will no longer be crappy! Seems legit, right?
The upshot of all this is that I am starting my IVF cycle
now; I start birth control tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment