Some answers

I actually wrote this post about a week ago, but I didn't get around to posting it until now.  So, if you didn't know, my surgery was actually 2 and a half weeks ago.  Here's the post:

I was debating whether to write this blog entry, but then I read an article about infertility in the April 2011 Ensign magazine from the LDS Church. On page 28, it says, "There's nothing in the scriptures or anywhere in the gospel that teaches us to suffer in silence.  That's a cultural thing.  When you suffer in silence, you suffer more deeply."  I also thought this might be too personal, but random strangers at the grocery store sometimes ask me why I only have two kids (only in Utah!).  So, here goes.  If you are grossed out by the medical stuff, sorry, feel free to skip it, but it's kind of necessary to this situation.  

Until recently, we never knew why we couldn't have any more kids.  Or at least, we never had an actual diagnosis.  Over the  years, we had been to different doctors, had lots of tests done, and no specific problems were ever found.  I was generally declared healthy, even though I knew I wasn't.  We were given some theories that couldn't be backed up with my test results.  It's hard to treat a problem when you can't really tell what it is.

I've had chronic health problems like occasional migraines and painful cramps, but those aren't necessarily related to infertility.  Then, I started having more health problems a few months ago.  I went to a new doctor, and he located some specific areas of chronic pain that he said were probably from endometriosis.  I told him that everything short of surgery had been done to look for endometriosis in the past, and none had been found.  He said we'd start with an ultrasound and probably move on to surgery.  With the ultrasound, they found fibroids, but those weren't the cause of my pain or infertility. 

I'm not going to explain in detail what endometriosis is here.  Basically, it means that bits of tissue wander into the abdominal cavity that were never meant to be there.  They cause pain as they grow, and they leave behind lots of scar tissue.  During the surgery, they removed scar tissue from several locations in my abdominal cavity.  When I woke up, it felt like someone had punched me repeatedly in the gut.   For a few days, I couldn't get my abdominal muscles to work at all.  I couldn't get out of bed or up from the couch without assistance.  And I couldn't bend at the waist to sit or lean over.  Good thing I had lots of help around the house from my family.  And my friends brought in dinner for several nights, which was very sweet and very helpful. 

Now, I'm left with stitches and bruises.  I'm still sore, and I can't do anything extremely strenuous for a couple more weeks.  But after about 6 weeks, I should be perfectly fine.  Will the endometriosis come back?  Quite possibly, eventually.  Is my infertility cured now?  Not really.  But having the extra growths gone does make it more likely that I could get pregnant, especially in the next few months.  We'll see what happens that way, but I'm not particularly expecting it to happen.  In the meantime, we are still pursuing adoption!