A Genius And A Gentleman

We had an appointment with Dr. Walsh at Sims Clinic on Thursday, the 5th of September. I haven't gotten around to writing about it yet because my uncle died suddenly and was buried the day after the appointment at Sims, so... with all that entailed, I guess I didn't really get a chance to process what had taken place during that appointment.... I suppose I'm hoping that by writing about it, it will help me in some way to process it.

So... we arrived at the Clinic, had to fill out some forms and were shown to a private waiting room. We didn't have long to wait... for the first time ever... a consultant was early for an appointment...!!! Anyway... even though I was feeling very calm and comfortable about the appointment, I wasn't feeling anxious or anything.... I just could not sit still for the few minutes that we were waiting. I was walking around the room, looking out the window, checking my phone... I guess I was subconsciously anxious or something.

After a few minutes, Dr. Walsh (he is the owner of the Sims Clinic) came and introduced himself... Yep... the consultant himself came to see us in the waiting room and he brought us to his office. This alone was unheard of in our experience elsewhere. What appears to be the 'norm' is to be left waiting in a large waiting room with between five and ten other couples and have your names called out by a nurse, who then brings you to see the consultant in his big important office. This was different, very different.

Our appointment with Dr. Walsh lasted almost 2 hours (yep... I did say 2 hours...!!!). The only way I can describe Dr. David Walsh is that he is a 'Genius and a Gentleman'  Nothing was rushed, nor at any point did we feel like we were an imposition or were delaying him. He went through our entire history with a fine tooth comb, explained every minute detail to us, he drew labelled diagrams for us (he has this amazing ability to write things upside down so they appear the right way for us to see as we are sitting across the desk from him. Ok... I know this says nothing about his ability to help us conceive, but it means a lot that he learned how to do this to accommodate and make things easier for the patients, the people sitting across the desk from him, the people depending on him to provide one last shred of hope that maybe, just maybe it will work this time.... It was about us, not about making things easier for him.) 

He told us about all of our options, he explained about all of the testing that we could do. He told us about the process of IMSI (Intracytoplasmic morphologically selected sperm injection) which is basically a form of ICSI, the difference being that during ICSI, the sperm is magnified 400 times, during an IMSI cycle, it is magnified more than 6000 times so it gives a much better chance of picking the best sperm, the ones that will most likely result in fertilisation and hopefully, pregnancy. You can read more info about it here.
He also introduced us to EEVA (Early Embryo Viability Assessment) which is basically a system where the embryos are not disturbed in the first few days of life, they remain in the incubator and instead of being taken out every few hours to be assessed under a microscope - they are photographed every 15 minutes to give a time-lapse account of exactly how they are developing, which in turn gives a better idea of which embryos have a better chance of resulting in pregnancy and hopefully, a healthy baby. Dr. Walsh talks about EEVA here.

So... where do we go from here...??? Well, Dr. Walsh is of the opinion that a hydrosalpinx is a threat to a healthy pregnancy even after it has been cleaned and drained, so he is anxious for me to have my left tube removed before we go ahead with any further treatment. He would also like to have the inside of my womb inspected to see if there is any damage there or anything else due to the infection that had been leaking into my womb for so long, that may be preventing me from sustaining pregnancy. So... yeah... It looks like either way.... I need to have more surgery before we can even consider going ahead with any further IVF Treatment. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. I know how badly having surgery knocks  me back and how long it takes me to recover emotionally and mentally from surgery. I'm also not certain how I feel about having my left tube removed... I know it makes sense if it is not working or will be a hindrance to a pregnancy, but gosh.... removing it is so..... final.

We had some blood tests done after the appointment with Dr. Walsh. We are still waiting for  some of the results to come back, but one set of results, the Elastogram - have come back abnormally high, which indicates a high risk of problems with clotting. Yet another blow. It basically means that any future pregnancy, or indeed any surgical procedure - will need to be supported by thromboprophylaxis drugs. I guess... in my head... that is something that is fairly minor, but good to know. When you are going through any kind of an IVF cycle... its just one set of drugs after the next, it can almost become zombie-like. You take what you have to take - so a few more drugs and daily injections and heck, even throwing in a few Intralipid Infusions doesn't really make that much difference. You kind of accept that you are going to feel like crap for about 14 weeks (maybe longer) and just get on with it.

You know what - I've just written that last paragraph and have just stopped to notice the difference in my thinking and how it has changed. When I started the first cycle back in 2010, every injection was a big deal, every tablet that I took was of great significance... It was all so important. Even at the last clinic when they mentioned Intralipid Infusions and high dose steroids and blood thinners... I said 'No way', I was sick of drugs and hormones and steroids and just constant treatment and surgeries, I was fighting everything- I'd had enough. This makes me think that taking such a long break from it all was a really fantastic idea. I guess it has allowed me to stand back and look at the bigger picture. Does it really matter whether I have to inject myself 4 times a day or 10 times a day..... Does it really matter if I have to sit still for a few hours twice a week to have infusions.......... Does it really matter if I have to take 20 drugs a day instead of 10.......... Do any of these things really matter...??? My response right now is 'No', because all of those things are just temporary.... I can go through absolute hell for 3 or 4 months if it means that eventually... I will get to hold my baby. Of course I can.... I've gone through absolute hell for three years and all for nothing..... 4 months should be a dawdle, and even more so with my new-found confidence in a Fertility Clinic. 

All of this is just information right now anyway, I am not planning on going ahead with any of it until next year sometime. Patrick and I were married five years in August so we are going away for a week in October, and also, I am turning 30 in December so am planning the mother of all parties for that :-) I am planning on enjoying the rest of this year as much as I can and being fresh and ready to look at all of this again next year sometime. 

We meet with Dr. Walsh again early in October and hopefully we will have all of the test results back by then............. Now... back to Party Planning :-)