So where did it all begin?

The story begins ... my DH (darling husband) and I were talking about trying to finally start a family. We have been together 10 years now and no luck so far. Where do we start?... oh that's right, my bowels.

After years (and by years I mean many many years) of battling with issues with chronic constipation I went back to my bowel specialist to see if we could find a new plan of attack to get myself as well as we could before pregnancy... I was starting to really have issues with not being able to poop properly. Another colonoscopy, a new diet perhaps? Brief appt, we had a good chat, talked about what some of the problems could be and that is where I met the FODMAP's diet for the first time. She sent me off with a pile of papers to read, a box of daily suppositories and a Blood Test and told me we would speak again in 6 weeks. So on top of quitting drinking (which was one of the best decisions I ever made mind you) I had to quit many foods...which for me has been the hardest things to give up... apricots, nectarines, mushrooms, onions, avocado, everything gluten free, lactose free... it was hard, but I did it as I was determined to find a solution.

Bloods came back ok... no Crohns and no Celiacs... thank Christ! Both are in my family (along with auto immune conditions in both parents and both grandmothers), so dodged that bullet for sure. I did however have low thyroid levels T4 of 4.3... so off to the GP I went.

GP visit - I had signed up with a local doctor down the road so was a first time visit. Really lucky to find her as she has experience as a OB/GYN. She was lovely...she read my file, I filled her in on all my tests etc and we talked about fertility testing as if DH and I were going to try and conceive this year as planned. So off for more Blood Tests I went.

Things were really improving, but not fixed, was still needing to use the suppositories every day. By this stage I had started to shed weight (got down to about 49kgs and have lost a total of 16kgs to date), people were starting to comment all the time on my appearance and I was really starting to feel sorry for myself... so I phoned in to talk to my specialist just before Xmas and she had gone on leave. Bummer. What do I do now? So her nurse phoned her for me. She was concerned that I was still having issues and the diet had not helped with that so she referred me for a Pelvic MRI. That would mean we would finally get to the bottom of it (excuse the pun). If something was really wrong did I want to know? Nervous! So I phoned and booked it... one weeks time! Wow that was fast and 5 days before Xmas. Progress.

Thursday 20.12.12 - Pelvic MRI day. appointment time 7.50am. Before work? what was I thinking? The nurse came and sat with me to go over the procedure. She explained what we were doing what they call a functional MRI...you don't really want all the details but she seemed to be more nervous than I was. 30 minutes later we were done! The machine wasn't as claustrophobic and loud as everyone said it was. Piece of cake! done worse things in my life. My super worried husband was waiting right outside and quickly whisked me away for a soy flat white before work began at 8.30am. Done... now the wait begins! Gotta get through Xmas without worrying about it and then will get my results in the NY.

Happy New Year! - Xmas and New Year went great, still sober, still eating nuts and berries and managed to lose 2 kgs over that time... WTF? unheard of. Working has been helping take my mind off things. Starting to get nervous about all the tests coming up.

Monday 7.01.13 - Wedding Anniversary! 7 happy years. That was the day I got the phone call at work in the morning about my results. Tests showed my thyroid levels had got better with a T4 at 3.8 but I tested positive for Thyroid Antibodies and would eventually develop full blown Hypothyroidism. So we decided taking the Thyroid medication would be the best thing going forward to help with fertility, and also the constipation. That news I could handle, it was when she told me that I had elevated Prolactin levels that might be caused my a tumour on my Pituitary Gland in the base of my brain that my heart kinda stopped beating for a minute... WTF? She assured me that these tests sometimes give false readings and she would send me for a retest at my 21 day fertility blood test... that was weeks away! she told me she would leave a script and blood test form at the front counter for me to pick up. DH was still on holiday so swooped in and collected for me, then collected me from work. He handed me the envelope in the car which i opened and sure enough there was a wad of paperwork for the lab, but there was a another Radiology referral, what what that for? why do i need an Ultrasound, I have just had an MRI? It was then that I read the GPs letter she had enclosed.

Something along the lines of.... "the other thing I forgot to say was that your MRI organised by Dr Ross suggested you might have an unusual shaped uterus and we should look at this more closely with an ultrasound scan".  The referral said to investigate for a Unicornuate Uterus... what the hell was that?? I did what any IT geek would do and I googled it. Wrong thing to do! Stayed up late searching all the links I could find. What did it mean?

Unicornuate Uterus (UU) - It meant I was born with 1/2 a Uterus with possibly the other half being there but being undeveloped or not there at all. It meant it was incredibly rare, only 1/4000 people are born like this, it meant that I had 65% of only having one Kidney as they grow as the same time. It meant it was going to be really hard for us to conceive let alone carry a baby to full term, only 50% of studies delivered live babies, there were breech babies, ectopic pregnancies, C sections and a foetal death rate of 10%. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicornuate_uterus

Devastated? Not really. I don't think at that stage I was allowing myself to be. I live my life by a  few simple words. "Nothings a problem till you make it one". I had my Bowel Surgeons appointment the next day, so after spending half the night on the phone filling my mother in an googling myself senseless. I just went to bed.

Tuesday 8.01.13 - Surgeons appt today and MRI results. Nervous much? Work as normal. Husband was still on holiday so was happy to come to appt today. Surgeon was a lovely man,  We talked a little about my UU (he had also seen the MRI) and he asked me to stop calling it 'Half a Uterus'. That made me giggle. Once he had all the info on my bowel movements or lack thereof he wanted to show me the MRI results and what they had found. I had what they called a small Rectocele http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectocele. A small tear in the lining between my rectum and vagina. This I had been prepared for as that was the reason for the MRI in the first place. One thing him and his colleague did find had maybe caused this issue was that my rectum was alot more forward than it should be and the direction of it cause be causing me some issues. Finally some answers. Something else that didn't form right in the womb! I'm one lucky girl this week! He concluded by telling me there was no way to fix this via surgery and we would just carry on with the Dietitian, suppositories and I would need $2k worth of physio with a specialist to improve my muscle function in that area from all the damage caused my chronic constipation. So off home I went to digest that information, reassess the budget and take my meds.

Saturday 12.01.13 - Pelvic Ultrasound day. appointment time 8.50am, nice and early! The young girl that did my ultrasound had only been doing it for 1 year and this was her first UU,  lucky thing! Again she seemed more nervous than I was. I was mentally prepared this time... and had all the facts, this time I would be able to 'see' what was on the screen. I was really hoping that my first U/S would eventually be to see Baby Robertson not investigate a rare congenital malformation. And we began. Couldn't really tell what we were looking at but was sure we found a Banana shaped uterus looking thing on my left side... that must be it? She didn't say. I left her to it as it looked like she was really concentrating. Then it came time for my kidneys. She started on my right side... scanned...scanned...scanned some more.. I couldn't see one! As i was not a qualified Radiologist... i said nothing but waited. She asked me to roll more on my side so she could come in from the back (just in case it was hiding)... but then she spoke. "I'm having trouble locating your Right Kidney...im not sure there is one there. The one on your Left Side is enlarged (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrophy). I knew it!! I was one of the 65%! DH looked at me stunned, I told him that if I was going to rock a birth defect I would do it properly. For some reason I was still not feeling devastated. I now have two congenital Malformations... Unicornuate Uterus with Renal Agenesis... at 32 years of age! How have we never ever picked this up? Stunned. Off we went to spend the day in Amberley explained all of this to my in laws and let them know we were in for a challenge conceiving their grand babies.. and we planted some trees, was actually quite theraputic!

Monday 14.01.13 - GP called. Again early before work. Those were some serious U/S results to come into on a Monday morning. Hope she had a coffee first! She confirmed that I had a Left Unicornuate Uterus with the possibility of only a Right Ovary and no Right Kidney. She sounded shocked. I pretty much said "sweet as" what shall we do next? Forgetting that we still had to wait for my next lot of Bloods for the Pit. Gland results as I still might have a Benign Tumour to add to that list next (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pituitary_adenoma)! In the meantime we were to organise sperm samples as once all the results were in she would need to refer me to a Fertility Specialist/Gynaecologist at the Hospital. Pleeease don't let that be a long waiting list! We cant afford to go private :-(

Tuesday 22.01.13 - Next Blood Test... Day 21 Fertility Test, Prolactin Level Test and Kidney Function Test - update to come

Thursday 24.01.13 - Results are in! GP range this morning...Prolactin levels are back to normal, so not Pituitary tumour - yay me! Phew... feeling a little less stressed now. Uber Kidney also looks to be functioning ok, Potassium and Sodium levels within normal range. Should be getting annual tests now to check it out. GP also confirmed thats shes pretty sure I ovulated... go left ovary go! Finally some positive news. So, what next? DH off to get his junk tested this week and GP is prepping a letter of refferal to FS/GYN. We are having to go public so here is hoping the waiting list isnt tooo long! lucky im a patient person.

So now you have the jist of where we are at. Next stop Fertility Specialist. We would like to share this next journey with you, good news and bad news will be published. We hope that this blog will help other like the UU blogs i have read have helped me, so many positive outcomes, it keeps me hopeful.

Next update will be in a week or so...until then.