What a Way to Spend a Birthday!

Well, the surgery went well yesterday... although he could not perform the bladder endo excision. Apparently, during the surgery the 1st screen for the camera in my abdomen was not working. Then, before he went on to the "big" part of the surgery (the bladder), the 2nd one stopped working. So, he said "When two things go wrong in a surgery, I don't want something else to go wrong." and stopped. The surgery was right about 1.5 hours (twice as long as expected). He did remove the endo from the cul-de-sac (right behind the uterus). He also said that now my left ovary has been attached by endo & pulled back towards the cul-de-sac. I didn't ovulate this cycle, either. He said my right tube + ovary look great, though, & my appendix. He said he thought the adhesion on my bladder looked more like scar tissue than endo, though. It's still there & causing discomfort, but better than endo. It doesn't seem as though the Zoladex implants worked very well @ reducing the endo. At least it helped my pain. He still feels IVF will be just as successful & that Clomid (which he initially agreed to prior to surgery) is not a good idea as I normally ovulate. We will start using ovulation prediction kits, even though it probably won't help fertility wise I just want to know that my body is getting back to normal.

So, we will have a couple of months to try on own & then start IVF. I was blessed enough this weekend to speak to a woman that had IVF at the end of last year & was carrying triplets. She amazingly made it to 35wks5 days. She had some problems following the delivery, but is doing much better now. She is also a Christian, so that was even more encouraging. I really hope we have enough money to do it this December &, of course, that it's successful.

Since the surgery was so late in the day (3:00-4:40ish), my doctor wanted me to stay overnight for observation. It was as bad as I worried it would be. My doctor came by around 7:00 am this morning to have me discharged & we left the hospital around 9:15. Got home & took a nap until around 3pm. Needed some pain med & ate a bit of something. I'm already tired again! With not having eaten since Saturday night, I thought I would be STARVING coming out of surgery, but I haven't had much of an appetite. They said anesthesia can do that... loss of appetite for 24 hours.

My mom & N stayed with me most of the night & I also had some dear friends come & visit for a couple of hours. They were all so sweet to me. I have a couple of pics from last night in the hospital that I will try to have N put online for me tomorrow (since our at-home connection doesn't upload pics for some reason).

Thanks so much for the prayers! Even though the surgery wasn't as successful as we had hoped, I am still optimistic about IVF in December. We are praying for His direction & His provision for the emotional & financial needs we will face with this treatment in December. We are also looking into dietary changes to help the endometriosis pain. I have read about women that have felt much better with cutting out gluten completely & cutting out processed food or adding only organic to their diet. We will see & I'm sure keep ya up-to-date!