The Good, The Not So Good, and The Ugly

For as long as I can remember, I've always hated when people ask, "do you want the good news first, or the bad news?" I like to be a pretty positive person, and as such, don't generally want to hear the bad news at all.

I can't ever decide if it's easier to hear the good news first so you have some perspective and something to think about while the bad news is delivered, or hear the bad news first and just get it over with, get past it, and get to the good news.

I think I lean a little more towards getting the good news first... so that's what I'm going to do here.

I had my HSG, (hysterosalpingogram) test this afternoon to test for tubal infertility, you know, in case the PCOS isn't enough fun. ;) To help you understand a little bit about the test, I'm going to copy/paraphrase some of the information about it from the brochure the diagnostic center sent me.

"An HSG is an x-ray test that examines the inside of the uterus and fallopian tubes. HSG is used to help diagnose certain problems of the uterus and fallopian tubes. It is performed by a board certified radiologist in a fluoroscopy room."

"For HSG, a special fluid is placed into the uterus and fallopian tubes. The contrast shows these structures on the x-ray screen highlighting the inner size and shape." They use a small thin catheter, (the nurse said it's about as big as a strand of spaghetti noodle), with a balloon on the end, and place it in the cervix then fill the balloon with air. Contrast is slowly injected through the catheter to fill the uterus and fallopian tubes.

x-rays from my HSG
It's hard to take pictures of x-ray films!

Ideally the contrast flows all the way through the fallopian tubes, meaning that they're clear. Often people who have small blockages in their tubes, the blockages are cleared out by the contrast. So the test is actually really beneficial for a lot of people.

The good news for me is that my tubes are clear. But in the "one step forward, two steps back" category, that's not the end of the results unfortunately.

I have an "adhesion" around one of my tubes. The adhesion is scar tissue around the tube which is basically blocking it off as if the tube itself were blocked. So while there is nothing inside the tube blocking it off, it's still not functioning properly because of the adhesion.

left side with adhesion where the dye pools
right side all clear and the dye flowed through the tube

Additionally, I have a fibroid or polyp in my uterus that my RE is going to have to take a closer look at. The radiologist said that most people who have an HSG performed have fibroids/polyps, but mine is just a little larger. My RE will look at the films from my x-rays and determine if anything needs to be done with it, or if it is small enough that we really don't need to worry about it.

So, not completely terrible news, but not exactly what I was hoping for either. I asked to watch the test on the monitors as they were doing it, so I knew something wasn't perfect when the dye on the left side of the monitor started pooling where the right wasn't. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty upset when I left, but I'm doing much better now.

I have an ultrasound scheduled this Friday to see if my first round of Clo.mid is working, and we'll talk more about all the HSG results then too. So, I should know a better action plan then. Until then I figured this would be the fastest way to explain everything to everyone interested so that I won't have to make lots of the same phone calls, and get emotional every time I talk about it.

Feel free to e-mail me about it if you have any questions though. ;) For a little background on all this you can read here and here.

Jennifer