I haven't updated this in a while now. Life has been busy! Nursing school is beginning to come to a close, with roughly 46 days of class left! I remember the beginning of nursing school- anxious to pass, thinking it would take forever to finish schol. It seems to have flown by though! Pinning is right around the corner, and so are boards!!
It has been nearly 5 months since the D&C. After the procedure, the doctor seemed hopeful that there would be no complications, we had gotten pregnant without an problems, and miscarriages are fairly common place. However, after two months with no cycle, but symptoms of having one, I began to suspect that something was not right. My doctor was insistent that I was under a lot of stress and it would come when it was ready. I kept pushing though because of the cyclic pain. She put me on provera to start a cycle, but that also failed. She finally agreed to do an ultrasound and labs to rule out hormones. However, when I went to the lab to have them drawn, there was no order, and the nurse in her office said that the doctor obviously did not want to draw hormone levels because it wasn't in the notes. I did have an Ultrasound, and the doctor then claimed that my lining was too thin. So more hormones were ordered, still without checking levels. These also did not work. Meds were followed my what is called a hysterosalpingogram, where dye is injected to determine whether there is uterine scarring or blockage in fallopian tubes. This test failed, the dye wouldn't even go in. It was a very painful procedure! She claimed that typical scarring would still show on the X-ray, and since it did not, she was referring me to a reproductive endocrinologist. I was alright with that, since I had already made an appointment with an excellent R.E. in St. Louis. My OB also ordered an MRI. 4 Days after the HSG, I got a 5 day cycle, which I was (lol) excited about. Today I called her office to see if the MRI had been read yet. Her nurse said that it had not, but the radiology department claimed it had already been read and faxed to her office. The R.E. requested all lab reports, and films to be brought to his office, so I went to pick up the MRI report, which according to my OB was had not been read yet. I read the report, and they found "hypointense connection between the anterior and posterior cervical walls". In lay terms, my cervix is covered by scar tissue- also known as Asherman's Syndrome.
I am so angry that she wouldn't listen to me in June when I called her, or again in July. Furthermore, I am very upset that she had me on medications that are NOT supposed to be given for that condition because, while it is supposed to induce a cycle- if there is scarring preventing flow, there is no where for it to go except for back into the fallopian tubes, and possibly cause endometriosis. I am mad that she did not bother to call to explain what her involvement will be in the future, explain the diagnosis and possible treatment that the R.E. may talk about, that her office LIED about the MRI being read in the first place, and hat she brushed off my concerns all this while.
I know what the recommended treatment for this syndrome is, and what some of the complications are. I do my research, and because I like medical things, I tend to obsess about the details. A surgery called a hysteroscopy is used to visualize and remove scarring. Meds and/or a balloon is used to make sure the scar tissue does not grow back. Because of where my scarring is, when/if we get pregnant again, I have a higher chance of 2nd trimester pre-term labor, issues with the placental attachment, and if endometriosis has formed- possible infertility as a whole. 70-80% live birth rate for women with Asherman's syndrome... From a woman who told me, "I was not vigorous with the D&C," and "Scarring most commonly occurs with women who have had multiple D&C's" (I have had ONE, the one she performed". I may be a nursing student, able to comprehend some of what she says, and research what I don't understand, but I also am entitled to her time as my doctor. I am paying her for my care, her time, and her knowledge. I feel gipped.
