September 27, 2002
The Ultrasound
I got up before dawn this morning so I could get to the clinic a little before my 7:30 am ultrasound appointment. I didn't remember until last night that when I made the appointment, I had forgotten to ask where in the clinic I needed to go. I stumbled into the bathroom, flipped on the lights, then quickly shut them off again as my pupils rapidly shrank to pinpricks while my eyeballs shrieked in agony. Fumbling at the wall, I turned on the single light over the shower, started the water, then went to the toilet closet.
Fearing that in my morning grogginess I'd forget I was supposed to have a full bladder for the ultrasound, Dale had made a little sign for me and wrapped it around the doorknob. In big block letters it said,
"NO PEEING Pamie!!!1
Yes, he really did write '!!!1' I giggled, put the note down, and got showered. I was out the door by 6:45 and got to the clinic a little past 7. I went to my doctor's office and the door was unlocked, which was comforting. But the glass window to the check-in desk was closed and the lights were off behind it. I knocked on the glass but it wasn't loud, so I opened the door to the exam areas and called out. No one responded. :/ I picked up a flyer about the clinic and looked for the name of the doctor that I was supposed to see for the ultrasound, then went back to the directory on the first floor to look for his office. Found it and went there. Unfortunately, his door was locked.
While I stood in front of the elevators pondering my options, a woman came by and unlocked the clinic. I followed her in, she checked to make sure I was in the right place, and I was, so I signed in at 7:15 and waited. Amazingly, I was called back right on time. I guess it helps to be the first patient of the day.
The sonographer quickly explained the procedure to me then smeared cold goo on my abdomen. As she did the ultrasound, she kept up a running commentary of what she was doing. I laid back and looked at the monitor. Everything just looked like darker and lighter shadows obscured by heavy static. I commented on wondering how she could tell a particular blotch was my uterus and she said, "That's what I call job security."
Unfortunately, despite my lack of a morning bathroom break and roughly 4 glasses of water, she wasn't able to get a very good view of my uterus, and she had a hard time finding my ovaries. (Briefly I thought, "well, a lack of ovaries would sure explain why I don't ovulate!) I have a retroverted uterus, which means my uterus points backwards toward my spine, instead of forward towards my navel. (I've known this for years.) The problem it cause today is that a retroverted uterus is harder to examine with a standard ultrasound. The deal with my ovaries is that they were positioned a little behind my uterus, instead in line with and off to the sides of my uterus.
The sonographer wrapped up her ultrasound then had me go and empty my bladder. (Yay!) Then I had to go back into the exam room, get undressed from the waist down, and 'assume the position.' The doctor then came in and performed another ultrasound, one that was a little more invasive but enabled them to see what they needed to see. My uterus and cervix were totally fine, but my ovaries are slightly larger than normal and showed numerous cysts in each. (I'd even noticed those. They looked like marble-sized dark shadows in the lighter blobs of my ovaries.) After another trip to the bathroom, I was given the report and my records to take with me to my 8:15 appointment with one of the clinic's nurse practitioners.
Misty, the one we've been seeing wasn't available today, so I met with a charming blonde girl named Thomassen. (That's her first name!) Thomassen reviewed the report (which I'd read on the way down -- it was pretty short and summed up what I've already said) and discussed the next step, which is to start me on Clomid. This drug is supposed to stimulate my ovaries and cause me to (finally!) ovulate. I'm starting the Clomid tomorrow, so I should ovulate on the 9th of October. If I get pregnant then, my due date would be July 4th! If I don't get pregnant, then I have to schedule an exam to make sure the Clomid hasn't resulted in a large cyst. If everything checks out ok, then we'll try the Clomid again. We'll try it this way for three months. If I'm still not pregnant, then we'll try more drastic measures... like the turkey baster method. But, Thomassen seems fairly confident that we will be successful with the Clomid.
I also talked to Thomassen a bit about Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. PCOS is a disease that's linked to menstrual irregularity, obesity, and infertility -- all issues I've been dealing with. (Excessive body hair growth is also a related problem, but thankfully not one of mine.) She's sure I have PCOS and that further testing will only confirm it, but she's suggested holding off on the testing until (if) after I deliver since any treatment for PCOS wouldn't begin until then. I can handle that. Then I got prescriptions for Clomid and prenatal vitamins.
And that's all for now.