So what has happened since I last wrote:
I have seen the specialist. I took a friend with me because B couldn't get away from work (as we were also taking time off to go to the Foo Fighters Concert.... yes, I'm a closet bogan). It was a rather rushed appointment. The joys of being in the public system, not much time to muck around.
I didn't get to my list of questions because as soon as I got there and showed him the chart of my cycles since I last saw him, he said that he didn't think it was just the PCOS that meant I was unable to conceive. About 15 of the 20 questions were directly relating to PCOS. It threw me and the rest was a bit of a blur. Thankfully Rachel was there to ask the main questions and take in all the info for us to go over afterwards.
Basically he thinks my cycle is about 60 days and has given me a pile of blood order forms to test on a day between day 30 to day 35. I did one on the day at the hospital as he thought that was pretty close to when I should be ovulating.
He also wanted me to have a HSG. A HSG is where they check to see if there are any blockages in your tubes by filling your uterus with a dye and then take an x-ray to check that it runs right through to you ovaries. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hysterosalpingography
To get a clear result (when the uterine walls are the thinnest) and to make sure you aren't pregnant at the time of the scan, they require it to be done 7-10 days after your period starts. All well and good if you have a regular cycle. But when you haven't had one in 4 months its a tad frustrating knowing that it could take some time to get it done.
To make it even worse, through the public system, you call the hospital on day one of your cycle to book in for the scan. The issue? Our local hospital has ONE doctor that can currently perform the scan. And that very busy doctor works in the clinic only TWO days a week...and it quite often fully booked several weeks in advance. So not only was I hoping that I actually would start my cycle, but also hoping that. by some miracle. it would fall on the day that the Doctor was working. And then by some form of divine intervention they would have an available appointment.
About a week after talking to the radiology department about options for getting the scan done (and being told my only option was to wait and see if I got an appt) my cycle started. I called the hospital to see if they had an appointment and guess what....they didn't.
I decided to call around and see how much it would cost to get it done privately. $600. So I booked it. More money than I have spent on myself in a long time. I went to the scan and the dye ran into both tubes so this is good in some ways but it would have been great for them to say "oh look your tubes were a little blocked but now they are clear...all fixed now! Go make babies" So it was a bit bittersweet. We still don't know whats causing the issues!
From what Rachel understood, the next step is to be checked for Endometriosis but I will find out more about this at the next appointment.
For now the Specialist should have my scan results back, my blood results from the day of the appointment and hopefully B's test results (they said they had to do a sperm count to rule that out as an issue). I think I will call them tomorrow to see when I should expect my next appointment. I am also going to invest in some ovulation tests to keep a good eye on everything and see if I am actually ovulating at all.
So that's where I am at the moment.
Until next time,
Rach x
Today's photo is taken of our tent while we were away camping. Yes, I took fairy lights to decorate our campsite.
