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Infertility
Anyone had a myomectomy? (Long)
Hi ladies. (Sort of) short background: was diagnosed with fibroids in 2005. Been (mostly) asymptomatic. When I got engaged in 2007, my former Ob/Gyn (I've since moved) told me were I 38+, she would recommend a myo immediately, but given my age (31 at the time), if I wanted to try on my own, of course I could. But that she "would hate to see me have any miscarriages due to the fiboids."
Got married in May 2008, moved to a new state and started TTC. Had an annual in August, told new doc we were TTC, so she ordered CD3 b/w and a saline u/s. B/w was normal and my uterine cavity and ovaries looked good in the saline u/s. (My fibroids are intramural.) Told me to try for 4-6 cycles and if I didn't get pregnant then "we'd know what to do."
Been charting and have charted 5 ovulatory cycles since I started recording temps. (On cycle #10 since going off BCP in May 2008.)
Went back to the doctor yesterday. She looked at my charts and told me that were I just coming to her at my age, not pregnant, no known issues, her first move would be to put me on Clomid and monitor me via u/s. But that the catch is that I do have a known issue, and because of the size and location of my fibroids, monitoring me would be difficult. (Have an 11cm fibroid that blocks one of my ovaries during vaginal u/s.) And then if I _did_ concieve using Clomid only to miscarry or go into pre-term labor b/c of the fibroids? That would be bad, and obviously not a risk she would want to take. (Nor would I, as much as I want to avoid surgery.)
So her recommendation is to do the abdominal myo, and then move on to Clomid etc., if necessary. (She did order an SA for my husband yesterday.)
I am terrified at the thought of surgery, and in this economy, is it a good idea to go without pay for 4-6 weeks, and have my employer realize they can do without me? (I work for very, very small company, so FMLA and disability aren't an option.) As much as I would like to get pregnant, I am really struggling with the magnitude of this surgery.
There's not a lot out there about myo, and I don't know anyone IRL who's had one. (Much less had one and then gone on to get pregnant.)
Guess I'm just looking for some others' experiences. I'd love to hear someone say the surgery wasn't that scary, they recovered nicely and now they're expecting, but I realize that may be too much to ask.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Anyone had a myomectomy? (Long)
I'll write more tomorrow after my IUI but I've had a myomectomy to remove three uterine fibroids last April (2008). One was the size of a lime, crushing my left ovary, the second the size of a tennis ball, and the third the size of a baseball at the base of my spine (needless to say after the surgery I lost 1.5lbs from the fibroid removal). I was out of work for exactly 3 weeks, returned with no problems at the start of week 4. DH and I took a year off - we were given the "all clear" about 6 months after the surgery, but had alot going on so we didn't really try at all. I finally went back to my RE last month - there are NO new fibroids that grew since the surgery last year, which is unheard of according to my RE - usually once you have them, even with surgery there's no guarantee they can get all of them. Since much of my surgery was on the left side, I now have some scar tissue left over that's semi blocking my left tube, but my right is fine. I go tomorrow for my first IUI after the year break.
I won't lie, the pain was awful for the first 1.5 weeks, but slowly it got better. I was out of commission and really happy that DH was working from home at the time to take care of me. I did try to carry laundry down to the basement on my second day out of the hospital, but my DH and doctor both yelled at me for doing it, I could have easily popped a stitch or worse.
Feel free to email me at jmyers31 at comcast dot net. I think the myomectomy was the best decision I made, it was difficult at the time but I'm so happy I did it. If I didn't, and did get PG, it would have ended tragically, I would not have carried to term because there was simply no room in my uterus.
Can you bank sick days? That's what I used, I didn't even dip into my short term disability for the surgery the way I coordinated it.
G/L, Jen
How could I forget to add; my cousin had one (actually mom's best friend's daughter who I grew up with and call my cousin). She is now the proud mother of twins - a boy and a girl, she got PG 8 months after her myomectomy.
Oh, and if you haven't already, post on SAIF, I know there is at least one person who got PG after a myomectomy, she gave me great advice before I had mine (what to bring to the hospital, what to have at home, etc).
Hi again - I'm back from my IUI. Fingers crossed it's successful - the Dr. said everything was right as it should be and DH is a 'stud'. LOL.
So, I ended up writing more than I thought I'd be able to last night - so I figure if you have questions just let me know and I'd be happy to answer them. Good luck with your decision. To be honest, it was an easy decision for me, I knew when I first found out about my fibroids that I was going to want them out of the way, we did try an IUI before the surgery, unsuccessfully, and then I was scheduled in Jan. 08 for surgery but in my pre-op work we found I had hyperthyroidism which could have killed me in surgery, needless to say we postponed everything. Let me know, I'm here for you.?