Scouring the internet for other women's experienced with their HSG's provided much daunting information. Most accounts were full of angst, pain, sever cramping enough to make the person hurl (while still on the doc's table), bleeding, etc. Nothing much to grasp on to in hopes of a, if not pleasant, at least not an all that bothersome experience. Of course, reading all these horror stories got me majorly wound up to say the least. I was so wound up by the time the day of my appointment came, I was glad to have some Xanax on hand. It helped calm my nerves slightly, and I began to relax knowing no matter how bad it was, in the end I was having a necessary procedure that's end goal was finally getting the all clear to start my IUIs.
So the day of HSG, I woke up, went to work, downed a Xanax, and waited. At noon I left the office to go to the radiology clinic. I had my mother with me, as she is sort of being my surrogate husband through all of this. I think it important to have someone there with a second set of ears, since there is a lot of information to absorb and a ton of questions that one needs to remember to ask. Following the advice of my doc and other women, I also took a painkiller...as a matter of fact, by the time I made it onto the doc's table almost 2 hours later, I had had two of these. Overkill you say? Maybe, but I wasn't taking any chances. So, onto the procedure...
As usual with any type of gynecological appointment, it was the same thing...disrobe from the waist down, hop up on the table, spread eagle and slide to the end. After so many years of doing this same maneuver, I still have yet to become comfortable with the whole thing. But we do what we have to do! So there I am, in the usual feet-in-stirrups position splayed to the world, with four other people in the room...the gynecologist performing the procedure, my secondary doctor, the nurse, and for mental support, my mom (don't be grossed out, she was behind me in a chair, not getting the doc's view). And as usual, the speculum comes out...why is it always cold? Once I am propped open and ready, which always takes some adjusting since I have a "tilted' uterus, the gyno performing the procedure informs me they are going to inject some lidocaine into my cervix...say what? Not one of the forums I read bothered to mention this! Needles are bad enough, but needles in my cervix, so not cool!!! So naturally I tense up for a moment, doc says to relax and on
the count of three give a big cough...1...2...3...COUGH! Odd that the doc complimented me on my coughing skills, but I'm glad because I have a feeling the cough is necessary to take your mind away from the needle prick. Needles to say, hahahahaha, I didn't feel a thing! No pressure, no stab, nothing! That was a relief!
After the injection, the doc then inserts a catheter up through the cervix and slowly injects dye into the uterus. The dye then pushes through the fallopian tubes to see if there are any blockages, leaks, or anything else of concern. Here is where I get lucky! Most of the horror stories I read were from women with tubal blockages. The pressure from the dye pushing into the blocked tube, supposedly, can cause immense pain. Well I really don't know if it was because of the pain pills or because I had no internal issues, but the procedure was nothing like I expected. It was slightly uncomfortable, there was a little pressure as they rolled me from side to side to get the dye into each tube, but then it was all over in probably less than 5 minutes. Afterward they had me get up slowly, as from the look of the gauze on the table it causes some pretty good bleeding, and get dressed...no locking the door to the bathroom though, in case you have emergency...which I assume is getting light-headed and passing out!
In the end, after all that build-up and panic, the procedure, at least for me, wasn't too awful. I have had much worse things done to me, so this was nothing! I will say that I was a bit light-headed the rest of the day, but that might have been from the pills. And for the next few days I did have some cramping and light bleeding, but nothing that screamed of the horrors other women described. Which is great, cause some of them made it sound a little worse than birthing a child! I guess I learned that most people who go into these forums discuss the worst case scenarios. I will try not to take them too seriously from now on. That's not to say I still won't over-research everything, that's just who I am. But in the future I will take these things with a grain of salt...and of course that pain pill if I feel it's necessary! No point in taking a chance on that one, hahahaha!
Final result, my tubes look perfect, I have a follow up appointment with my doc on Thursday, April 26th, and I'm basically all clear for take-off! Next step is finally deciding 100% on a donor and tracking my ovulation...but we'll save those things for another day :-)
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