I have decided to skip over a few doctors, which I will come back to later, in order to share in my most recent experience. Although, there has been a lot to come from my diagnosis, the issue that is effecting me most prominently right now is the issue of whether I will be able to get pregnant and carry a biological child, a healthy biological child. While I have wanted to adopt since I was 12, I have also wanted the experience of being pregnant and sharing that with my husband and family. I know in my heart that I will love a biological and an adopted child the same. I just wanted the opportunity for my husband and I to have both experiences, two uniquely different and special experiences.
Last week my husband and I met with a reproductive endocrinologist (RE), following the advice of the genetic counselor and the high-risk OB. After sitting down and meeting with him, he did an extensive vaginal ultrasound to check the structure of my uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes, and ovaries. He said structurally everything looks good: nice healthy cervix, no scarring in my uterus, no blockages in fallopian tubes and the sizing of my ovaries looked good. The problem he noticed was with my follicle count. One of the issues with TS is the risk of premature menopause and premature ovarian failure. While most women my age would have 6-10 follicles per ovary, he only found 4 on one side and 5 on the other. This led him to believe that I did in fact have a diminished ovarian reserve. His recommendation was that we not wait to start the IVF (in-vitro fertilization) process because if we did, even a year, it may be too late. He stated that even if we tried to get pregnant naturally, if we did not have a healthy pregnancy and had a miscarriage, we may not have enough of my eggs left to have a successful IVF cycle. This news was shocking to me since I have always had regular cycles and never had any signs that I am "running out of time". Additionally, they took some blood work to run an AMH (Anti-Mullerian Hormone) to obtain a more accurate count on approximately how many eggs I have left. Here is a link I found with more info on the AMH: http://www.drmalpani.com/amh.htm. We have an appointment today to go back and review the results of my AMH and to get information on our next step. I will update you with the results and our process soon.
I am trying very hard to remember the Father's Day sermon from two days ago. After crying through the first few minutes of the service, where they have all the dads stand up to be applauded and I had to watch my husband, father of my angel baby just sit there, I was able to take away an important message. I have to remember that it is not about obedience to God, but dependence on Him in my life. This situation that I am in is something that is completely out of my control. I have to continue to roll with the punches as I receive more and more information. I have to rely on God's plan for my life and know that His plan is greater than anything I could ever control. It's not enough for me to just obey His words, but I must depend on Him to do what is right for me, whether I can figure that out now or not. I will continue to pray for His love and almighty wisdom in the coming days, weeks and months.
~T.
No comments:
Post a Comment