About a week ago, my cousin Leslie, who is my practitioner of Dr. Hilgers, called to tell me not to get too excited about getting my letter because Dr. Hilgers was busy in conferences this month. BUMMER. So I just gave it to God and told God to handle it all for me. Days later I got the letter! (I'll post that info at bottom) So I get the letter and freak out, of course. I pick up the phone immediately to call and set up things with PPVI. Let me back track for a second.....So I knew that once I heard from Dr. Hilgers, my next step would be the blood/hormone testing. I kept thinking to myself how great it would be to be able to start that blood work before going back to teaching in Aug. I just didn't want to have to manage teaching with getting blood work and then having everyone ask me why the heck my arms were bruised. Anyway, I prayed for God's timing and that comforted me a bit. Now back to what I was saying...the day I received my letter I also started my period!!! PERFECT TIMING LORD!!!!!! Why...because when I talked to the PPVI office, they said the nurse would be contacting me Tuesday...that is 5 days away and the 5 day of my cycle!! Meaning that I could start the blood work on Tuesday and get it mostly all done before going back to teach. The Lord is working away!! So I got off the phone with the office and then thought...crap, I need to make sure I can start this blood work Tuesday and not just assume. Soooo I call back, hoping they aren't annoyed with me. Sweet Heather...she was so nice to me and understood my reasoning for wanting to start on Tuesday and she asked if she could call me back. Aghhh...I was so nervous! 5 minutes later she called back and asked if I could get to a computer and fax and fill out my patient forms so that they could have them on file and get me all registered. Of course, I jump right to it and get her those papers within, I swear, like 7 minutes. She said the nurse would then call me Tuesday and already have my papers and that we would be able to start the blood work then. Y'all, I was elated! I almost knocked my husband down in the driveway when he got home. He was sooo excited too. It was so cute to see his sweet face just light up! I thought to myself, "LORD, you are sooo good and I feel you all around me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I honestly felt a sense of relief and just awe in knowing that this all happened in such perfect timing. I'm still in awe. I feel good:) I know I have a long way to go but I'm happy to be starting the process finally.
Letter from Dr. H to my practitioner, Leslie, trained under Dr. H....she also is my cousin : I'm cutting it down to the important parts...
Your client is experiencing functionally abnormal cycles, unusual bleeding, and has a history of ectopic pregnancy. In reviewing her chart, it reveals limited mucus cycles and tail-end brown bleeding. These findings are often associated with hormonal disfunction, ovulation defects, endometriosis, and/or chronic low-grade endometrial infection.
I would like to make the following recommendations. She should have a thorough hormone evaluation of her menstrual cycle (without med), a thyroid system dysfunction panel (WHAT IS THIS??), an ultrasound series to determine whether there is an ovulation-related defect, and a diagnostic laparoscopy, hysteroscopy and selective hysterosalpingogram, as well as, endometrial cultures. The selective hysterosalpingogram gives us more information than the standard one that she has had in the past. These tests will determine if there is underlying hormonal dysfunction, an ovulation-related abnormality, endometriosis or pelvic adhesions, obstruction within the fallopian tubes, low-grade endometrial infection and/or a thyroid condition not diagnosed with standard tests.
Additionally, we would like her to send us the official report of her husband's recent semen analysis. Once we have this information, we can put together a reasonable plan of treatment.
Great post!! What a wonderful reminder that the Lord's timing is better than our own. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love PPVI--Heather is great (actually all the nurses are fantastic)! I don't know about the thyroid panel but I have had everything else done (surgery in late March and late April if you want to read my posts about that). I did wait for Dr. Hilgers himself--I scheduled my surgery in January and didn't have the surgery itself until 3/31. I think that wait time is pretty typical for Dr. Hilgers. I did work with Dr. Garnett quite a bit as well and she is terrific. I've not met Dr. Keefe (haha I think she is the only doctor there that I haven't met!!)
However it all plays out--you are in the best hands now! If ever there was a place to beat the odds, it's PPVI, and Napro!
Hebrews, thank you! I am about to start reading your posts...I think I did but I have read so many that I can't remember. I am going to freshen my mind up and reread them. My husband and I also agreed that we are going to wait for Dr. H too. We thought, if we are going this far to do all this, we might as well see The Man! Thank you so much for your encouragement. You are awesome! Off to read about your experience...
ReplyDeleteI never really did a "surgery recap" post, I should do that one of these days so you don't have to dig through them all.
ReplyDeleteWell, yesterday afternoon I was reading your blogs from back then and got so into them. My husband had to ask me to put it down so he could get my attention! ha. You went through soo much! I wish I could have prayed for you then. But you were lucky to have sign up as a blogger when you did b.c you had such loving support from these ladies when you were going through that. And, I totally understood when you told them you would miss them...it's so true! Later today I'm finishing catching up on yours...
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you have any other questions or want to know anything else. I want to stress that my situation is EXTREMELY rare...I don't want it to scare you! :-) One of the PPVI nurses said she'd been there for 5 years and mine was only the second situation she'd ever seen like that.
ReplyDeleteYou are SO right--the love and support and prayers of the bloggers definitely helped get me through that time!!
No worries, you didn't scare me. I know I have a road ahead. What helps make it easier is wonderful people like you:)You have carried a heavy load...you are so strong. I look forward to helping each other through all this! Blessings:)
ReplyDeleteIt was a 6 month wait for Dr. H when I scheduled my lap and a 4 month wait for Dr. Keefe. We ended up going with Dr. Keefe (who we loved)! I was tired of wasting time. I had all that stuff done last June in Omaha. We stayed at the Candlewood Suites near the airport (pretty reasonable and almost a full kitchen in each room so you can cook there). Hebrews is right, Heather is my favorite nurse there too! Dr. H is really into the thyroid testing stuff. I had that too, just couldn't tolerate the meds they wanted me to take (T3). I had TEBB which was evidence of a uterine infection (found on biopsy) that Dr. K treated with a couple courses of antibiotics for me and dh. Also, my hormones are absolutely terrible. I was on femara and PIO. Anyway, sounds like your letter was a lot like mine. I have the whole chronology on my blog if you want to read it.
ReplyDeleteChasing, thank you so much for posting! I'm happy to have a new blogger friend. Thanks for the info. I'm off to read yours now. It looks as if things worked out and Dr. H worked wonders for you. I'll now be including you in my prayers:)
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