With my history of cysts and having my right tube removed back in 2008, my doctor wanted to make sure that my left tube was open and not blocked. The endometriosis they found years back during the surgery could have caused some scar tissue in my remaining tube. Scar tissue in a tube could be just enough to block the road for the sperm to get to the egg. Before jumping into any extremely expensive procedures, we wanted to rule out all possible causes of why were were having difficulty getting pregnant naturally.
My mind was racing leading up to Day 161. Was I going to be able to have children naturally? Or was the only way to bring Sweet Baby Ray into the world was from a little (...lets be real, a lot of) assistance from good ol' science. According to The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), between 25 to 35 percent of female infertility is caused by tubal factors.
To determine if my only tube was open, we scheduled an Hysterosalpingogram (HSG) test. This test is typically scheduled between day 5-10 of your cycle. The Mayo Clinic has provided a great video and information about what an HSG test is, click here to read more. What this test consists of is laying on a table under an X-Ray machine and having a doctor insert a catheter into your vagina and they - to put it bluntly - pour a dye into your uterus. The doctors watch the dye on the screen as it moves through your uterus (they can see if there is anything abnormal with the shape of your uterus here as well), and up to your tubes. If there is anything blocking the tubes, the dye will stop, but if all is open, the dye will flow through the tubes and out into your pelvic cavity.
For me personally, this was awful, just plain miserable. My blocked tube gave my pain tolerance a run for its money. The dye was trying so hard to get through so the pressure that built up was so extreme that during the procedure, the doctor had to stop for a bit so the pain could go down. The nurse had to bring a cold towel to put on my neck to help calm me down. At one point the doctor said "You said you only have one tube right?"... Yes... why?... "Well, I see two here. It looks like when they said they removed your right tube, they didn't remove the entire thing, just the damaged portion." That was a surprise for me too, doc!
The Road is.....Open or Closed???
Even though this was a very uncomfortable and painful experience, we successfully saw the dye flow through my left tube and out the other end. YAY! This means that my tube was open and nothing was blocking it - what a relief. Both the fertility and hospital doctor said that they have seen an increase in the number of pregnancies after an HSG test is performed. Sometimes it just takes a little cleaning of the tubes to open the path. My husband and I had a big decision to make: do we wait a little longer and continue to try naturally, or start pulling together all of our savings and take out a loan to proceed with IVF (In Vitro Fertilization). Unfortunately, with my insurance, we did not have coverage for infertility .... that's a whole other conversation.... therefore, everything we would do would be out of pocket.
In the end we wanted to give the HSG a chance to prove itself and see if the facts were right, so we decided to continue trying naturally.
Recommendations
If you ever have to get an HSG test done, let me give you a few pointers before you lay out on the cold table.
Take the day off work. From my experience it was not comfortable and going back to work after the test is not recommended. I had planned on going back to work, but decided to call off for the rest of the afternoon. Now, if you do not have any closed tubes, this might not be as bad for you since the dye isn't being blocked from getting through.
Take a few Ibuprofen before. You will have mild-to severe cramping during the procedure. This will help prepare yourself and ease some of the pain.
Bring a pad. This dye stains. When you are done, throughout the day, some of the dye will drip out and you do not want this on your panties.
Wear 'period panties'. See #3 as to why.
Relax. Get a heating pad, find a binge worthy Netflix show, and prop your feet up. Take a day to just take care of yourself.
Until next time... JR
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