ANSWERS AT LAST!

"Not everything that is faced can be changed,

but nothing can be changed until it is faced"

The next step was to go on a waiting list to have a laparoscopy and hysteroscopy plus a dye test. This means going to the hospital and having keyhole surgery to check for such things as endometriosis, polycystic ovaries, uterine polyps or cysts and a dye test to check that both fallopian tubes are open and in good working order. The wait in NZ is up to 6 months but I got the call in to have my operation on the 28th January 2009 which happens to be our wedding anniversary - what a way to spend my 3rd wedding anniversary! I was very nervous but at the same time I was determined that I wanted them to find something. I wanted (and needed!) answers! I wanted to know WHY we weren't getting pregnant and I couldn't think of anything worse than being pinned with the 'unexplained' diagnosis which would make getting publicly funded IVF treatment in NZ almost impossible. You need to reach a certain threshold of points to be eligible and it takes 5 years of trying to concieve to become eligible if you have an unexplained diagnosis. I couldn't wait 5 years . . .

I came to after the operation in some pain with my husband by my side and after much negotiation prior to the op I had convinced the specialist who was performing my procedure to come and see me and let me know what they found. The usual would be to get results at a follow up appointment with your fertility specialist but there was no way I was going to wait that long! So we braced ourselves . . . would they say they found nothing and everything was perfect (please no!) or would they tell me they found something wrong? I know it seems strange to think that someone would WANT there to be something wrong with them but at this point anything is better than nothing. And they had found something - we had answers! Firstly, one of my tubes was completely blocked. It appeared that that tube had never formed an opening as in my specialists words 'It looks perfect with no scarring but there is just no opening' I was told this was likely a birth defect and I was born with it this way. Secondly, I had a uterine polyp which was removed during the surgery which can affect implantation and I also had polycystic ovaries in appearance. So, not just one answer but three potential fertility issues! I was quite excited (believe it or not!) because knowing one of my tubes was blocked explained why it was taking so long (or so I thought!) as it potentially halved our chances. In other words a years effots could have meant we only ovulated on the open side 50% of the time and therefore it would in theory be two years before we hit that 12 month mark. We were told that many couples go on to concieve with just the one tube and that we just had to be patient. We made an appointment for April 09 to follow up on the specialists results with our actual fertility specialist and hoped we would be up the duff by then and would have no need to carry on down the fertility treatment road.