Ellen also mentioned that Dr. M. wants me to take extra folate (Woohoo! That was one of the questions I forgot to ask!). Unfortunately she didn't have the exact amount, so I'll have to wait for a call back on that.
THEN...the moment I've been waiting for. My MRI results were in! She read me the long version and this is what I got from it: "arcuate uterus" "not a definitive septum" "surgery". Yup, surgery is happening folks. I appreciated the fact that Ellen admitted that she had no idea what an arcuate uterus was and put me on hold for a few minutes to do some quick research. She explained that it's similar to a uterine septum but much smaller. She also mentioned that while they don't see a definitive septum in the images, it's still possible that they'll find one when they go in for surgery. She left me with the expectation of a phone call about next steps sometime tomorrow since Dr. M. wasn't in the office today.
Of course I then visited Dr. Google and found a couple of encouraging tidbits. While it seems rather unclear if an arcuate uterus increases the chance of miscarriage, most research seems to recommend resecting the arcuate uterus if reccurent pregnancy loss has already occured. I also found a number of women who were diagnosed with an arcuate uterus via MRI only to find during surgery that they had in fact had a septum.
SO, I see this as A. a possibility that we will find a septum to fix. B. if there isn't a septum, at least she can resect the arcuate uterus. C. the arcuate uterus could still be our issue if there isn't enough blood/nutrient flow to the area and the babies keep implanting there.
Much to my surprise, I received a call from the doctors office this afternoon to get surgery scheduled. The only downfall is I found out how expensive it's going to be. I assumed it would be around $1200 but man oh man was I WAY, WAY off. I scheduled it anyway and decided that I would talk to E tonight and if I needed to cancel then I would.
E definitely had the same case of sticker shock that I did when I told him how much it was going to cost. After 30 seconds of silent pondering he said, "So we're basically spending x amount on an exploratory surgery?". I certainly didn't think of it that way but, yeah, he's right. His response to my "yes" is one of the reasons that I love him so much. "I don't want you to have to live through another miscarriage. Between the emotional and physical pain, it's not worth it. Even if nothing gets fixed, it will be worth spending the money because at least we tried." He's so selfless. I had to remind him that it's not just me going through the miscarriages but him as well.
So, it's decided.
Pre-op appointment: May 11th (and a little less money in our pocket)
Surgery: May 13th (and a lot less money in our pocket)
Post-op appointment: May 26th (and hopefully a good report)
And I'll leave you with this. Our fourth, and hopefully final, bear came in the mail late last week. Thanks Project B.E.A.R! (Ignore all of the clothing. I have them on a shelf with old clothes so I see them every morning and night)
I love how hopeful you're sounding here! A note about folate - make sure you get the right kind. When you have MTHFR, you need special B vitamins in bioavailable forms. L-methylfolate vs. folic acid, for instance (I take 1,000 mcg in AM and another 1,000 in PM) . I also take a siblingual B12 that's methylcobalamin (1 mg/day) and a B6 in the form of pyroxidal 5 phosphate (50 mg/day).
ReplyDeleteWishing you luck with your upcoming surgery!
THANK YOU! It's nice to see what you've been taking because I've seen so many variations while doing my own research. I'm hoping to get a call back from the doctor this week about supplements since she's been on vacation for the last week. If you wouldn't mind, would you let me know what brands you've been taking? It's hard to know what is good. If you're open to it, you can post here or email me at boikcm@gmail.com :)
DeleteSure! Posting here in case others come across this and are looking for recommendations:
DeleteB6: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ZN08CM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
B12: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G7R8J2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
L-Methylfolate: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002R3G8BS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Some doctors with prescribe Folgard, but all that does is give you extremely high amounts of the kind of folic acid your body can't process. It just lingers in your system but doesn't do anything for a developing baby.
One of the women in my Facebook support group found an over-the-counter thing online from some specialist that has all three of these combined. It was pricey, if I remember correctly, but to her it was worth it not to have to order three separate things. I can inquire about the name if you're interested.
You're AWESOME!! Thank you!!
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