The Long-Awaited Surgical Consult

Guys, seriously. It actually happened! After like a zillion false starts and so much stupidity, I fina-freak-ing-ly had my surgical consult for endometriosis cleanup! That only took six months. But, praise God, He made a way this time!

I returned to see my latest surgery prospect, Dr. Din*, two days ago. I’m glad I gave him a second chance after the epic fail that was my original consult. Dr. Din ended up being extremely thorough and knowledgeable, and patiently answered all 1,000 of my questions. I’m so pleased that my first impression about his practice was changed for the better.

This time around there were no other patients in the waiting room, nor were there any ridiculous delays. I waited maybe 10 minutes in reception and an additional 15 minutes or so in the exam room; I think that’s pretty standard for a doctor’s office.

As I was hoping, I didn’t have to change into a gown or have an exam, or any other such nonsense. I remained in my regular clothes and Dr. Din didn’t press me to have an exam. I believe when you meet a doctor for the first time that it’s always better to be fully dressed. When you’re wearing only a thin paper gown and feeling virtually naked, it automatically puts all authority and power in the patient/doctor relationship in the doctor’s court. So I appreciated being able to keep my pants on.

Here’s how it went down, bullet style: 

• Dr. Din reviewed the ginormous packet of records I’d brought. Specifically, he took time to read my last two post-op reports.
• After reading my records, he looked up at me and said, “Boy. You’ve got a real mess going on in there.” This didn’t faze me or upset me at all like it used to. He’s certainly not the first (or second, or even third) doctor to say that to me: I already know my endo is way bad. Like, if they counted past Stage 4, I’d probably be a Stage 6.
• Dr. Din was concerned about my colon. I’d forgotten this, but apparently in surgery #4—but not in previous surgeries—I had significant endo on my colon and bowel/rectum area (forgive me if these are not in the same neighborhood of the body. My anatomy knowledge is sparse).
  • Option A: Because of the colon thing, Dr. Din gave me the option of referring me to a reproductive oncologist (an “RO”) to do my surgery; ROs apparently frequently work within the colon area. My experience from a previous surgery with an RO is that they’re quite scissor-happy. I do not want another laparotomy. Period. I do not like Option A.
  • Option B. Dr. Din often work in tandem with a colorectal surgeon. This means that, during my surgery, Dr. Din will do all the work (well, the Da Vinci robot will, actually) as far as removing endo, but a colorectal surgeon will be the surgical suite too. If Dr. Din sees endo on my colon/bowel/rectum areas, his colorectal colleague will take over the Da Vinci robot to remove endo from those areas. I am a fan of Option B.
• My endo will be fully excised. The only time Dr. Din would burn it away is if there were “very small spots” (his words) that would be too small to bother excising. I’m okay with this.
• Dr. Din is buddies with Dr. C (my RE). Apparently the two of them frequently exchange patients: Dr. C does IVF, but not obstetrics. Dr. Din does not do IVF, but he’s an OB who often follows post-IVF pregnancies. I was pleased to know that, between the two docs, I’d be in good hands.
• Dr. Din examined the myriad of surgical scars on my abdomen (seriously, there’s so many). He pointed out where he would make incisions over top of my existing scars. I was happy to know that I’m only adding 1 tiny new scar to the collection.

I am to send Dr. Din a copy of the report following my upcoming hysteroscopy. If he has any questions about it—or about my history in general—he will touch base with Dr. C. In the meantime, Dr. Din promised to thoroughly review my plethora of records.

After the hysteroscopy, I’ll schedule a second appointment with Dr. Din. I imagine he’ll go over my procedure, order some blood tests, and schedule my pre-op stuff and the surgery itself. Time frame = end of January/early February.

Here’s to pain relief, to finally freeing my ovary from a tangle of adhesions, and being one step closer to restoring my fertility for natural TTC!

*Nope, not his real name; just a pseudonym to keep up my privacy in the blog world.

Author: Marixsa

Resolving infertility as childless-not-by-choice and encouraging fellow endo warriors along the way. View all posts by Marixsa