Getting Pregnant

This week my turn came up for the Lipiodol flush procedure, which ended up having good timing to be on a day that I usually work from home anyway.

I was nervous, of course. At least this time I wouldn’t need an anesthetic, because that would have made me more nervous; of course, the reason for this is the doctor wanted me to be able to feel what was going on, which I presumed would involve pain.

Dr H was already on his Christmas holidays so another doctor did the procedure, and I have to say it was highly uncomfortable but nothing you could really describe as pain. Starting with an internal ultrasound to check my insides as they are, they then inserted a catheter so they could get the Lipiodol liquid flowing through my tubes. The doctor said that it flowed well - more easily in one side than the other, but no signs of blockages.

I’m not really sure if that’s a good thing. It’s good to know my tubes are currently clear, but does that mean that last time when they were blocked was a one-off, or have they often been blocked? This inexact science of infertility can be pretty frustrating. Now we’ve been sent away to try on our own (with that ol’ favourite, “timed intercourse”) for another three months. We don’t really know if this treatment will have helped or done nothing. I’m feeling positive though, and hope that there’ll be good news in the next few months.

You might remember that our specialist, Dr H, sent us away for three months of trying to conceive using only what he calls “timed intercourse”, which means using ovulation tests to be sure we’re doing the deed at the right time of the month. Three months turned into four by the time we were able to get another appointment with him, and we still had no positive pregnancy test to show for our trouble.

At this appointment, Dr H reviewed all of our test results again, double-checking perhaps for anything he might have missed. In the end, he decided to send me back into the operating theatre (but not really for an operation – no anesthetic this time) to flush my tubes with a substance called Lipiodol. The theory is that there’s a possibility I have some endometriosis in my Fallopian tubes. I don’t have it anywhere else, but because I get some premenstrual spotting it’s a possibility that this was what was blocking my tubes before, and might be again. In cases of endometriosis, doing this Lipiodol flush has dramatically increased the rate of conception. If, on the other hand, I don’t actually have any endometriosis, it will have no effect.

So now I’m waiting for my appointment to go in for this procedure. I’m half optimistic that it might work out, but the whole endometriosis-in-the-tubes diagnosis is a bit uncomfortable for me – nobody can be sure so even after the procedure they probably won’t be able to tell us if we’ve got any better chance or not. Dr H suggested that we try for three months more after the flush and if we still have no success he’ll be recommending we move to IVF.