Endometriosis Center in Atlanta.

My last period which was after the failed clomid cycle, i had the most painful menses ever. The pain was excruciating that i had to have painkillers on standby. It didn't worked. Had hot water bottle (tuam) , it helped a little but then the pain is still there. I'm not so sure as why it happened, but in my opinion, it has to do a lot of hormone pills I've took for my clomid treatment. I had clomid, femostan and duphaston. All pills! And it did a lot of bad things to me in the end.

So during my painful period week, i did a lot of research on the best endometriosis specialist and this website came out , http://www.centerforendo.com/ . In Malaysia, endometriosis is new, and most doctors don't know how to treat it. They will ask for surgery, which is the same solution from this center BUT how good are the doctors in peeling/laser/excision  off the endo cells which sticks to the other organs determine the success of the operation.

Well,I'm no expert in medicine. But when i read this establish center for endo, I'm intrigued. They understand our problems, and can explain in details pre and post-op. They have the best facilities to undergo LAPEX, the best doctors available, the most extensive database on endometriosis patient from all over the world.They can even assess our case for FREE if you post it to them. 

At that time and moment, i was very much in pain and in desperate need for some relief. I was thinking of calling them out and that's when my pain stop the following day. I had cramps even after my period. There was not even blood on CD 6 but the pain was so horrible! Well, why didnt i just go to my doctor? Because i know what she will do. She will prescribe me more painkillers. Endo has no cure or any medication. Just surgery to get it all out. Even then, it can come back with a vengeance 

My case is endo stage 4. Its quite critical and after my surgery, my doctor told me, she couldn't get most of it out from my body because she didnt want to take any risk. The operation was very risky. My condition was so severe that my uterus is stuck to my bowel/intestine. It was hell when i wanted to go to the toilet after the operation. I was sad because there is not much she can do and the only solution she had for me is suppress my period after operation and GET PREGNANT! I had my lucrin treatment already. Boy, it wasn't a walk in the park for me. There was so much side effects from lucrin. 

And now, I'm waiting for the 2nd treatment..which is GET PREGNANT. This is also very difficult to achieve. Since if I take more hormone treatment, it acts like food to my endo cells. They thrive on the clomid. I know, it doesn't make any sense. But the want thing that can get u pregnant can also help to get back your disease. But if i get pregnant, then the endo will stop for awhile.Sounds confusing eh? 

So, i will consider this option again (the LAPEX center at atlanta) if my pain starts coming back again. The cost is not cheap, but if there is any alternative / centre for endo in any parts in Malaysia, i'll take it! In the meantime, please be prepare for my lovely AF arrival with painkillers. 

*For all endometriosis patient, do visit their website to learn more about your disease. I'm glad I found them. :)

  

Clomid cycle #1 FAILED...

Contemplating...

Ive been meaning to update the blog since FOREVER!haha..Guess when u had bad news, it makes your attitude less semangat!

As the tone suggest, my 1st clomid attempt has FAILED. :( I was so hoping it was a success that i sometime forget that only GOD knows when he is gonna give me the opportunity of a lifetime? But the reason im updating today is to go through the steps ive done for clomid #1.

CD# 3-7 - TVS showed there is no big size follicle. Doc prescribe clomid  for 5 days. 2 pils daily (2 x 50mg ) = 100mg daily dosage.
CD#12  - Had TVS scanned. Only 1 dominant egg on the right ovary. And also as expected, the uterus wall was very thin. <10mm. Doc's not encouraging. But we were hopefull. Doc prescribe Femostan to consume 3 times daily. morning and afternoon vaginally, while at night orally.
CD#15-16 - Had +ve OPK. BD
CD #17 -  Had TVS scanned. Already ovulated as expected. Alhamdulilah we caught it early. If we had waited, of course we missed the ovulation window which can only last from 12 - 24 hours and the Femostan  orked. My uterus wall already thick by 12 mm by this time. Doc prescribe duphaston for 3 weeks. To be consume 3 times a day. starting from CD 22. Doc advise if period comes, we have to stop taking them. Period did not come but i was hopeful for a BFP.
CD# 22 - Started Duphaston. 3 times daily.
CD# 22 -30 - BBT graphs was execellent! the temp keeps rising.
CD#31  - Temp drop! This is when i realise there is a possibility of no implantation. Already restless and tempting to do UPT test.
CD#31 - caved ! and tested. of course BFN! so sad . the pregnancy signs were all there. But then i notice duphaston can mimic pregnancy and it can make our period late! Our body is being provided with fake progesteron  daily. So I cant have the menses with progesteron on. I made my own decision to stop progesteron.
CD#33 - true enough as one of my blogger friends said, 2 days after stopping duphaston, AF arrived! This was a very sad day for me. We were so hoping for this cycle.

Now im on new cycle and on CD7. Last time we decided to proceed IUI directly after clomid failed. But since my sister is having her wedding in June, i had to postpone the procedure till after the wedding+ramadhan+raya+2 vacation trips, so its gonna be late october 2013. But who knows, maybe it sticks before my IUI? Amin..

My graph for March was so hopefull. *sigh*

Post-Clomid Treatment

Today is CD 10. I've finish the clomid treatment last saturday (CD 7). So far i took the dosage 100mg per day for 5 days starting CD3-CD7. The side effects that im currently having are hot flashes, dehydration, mood swing, eye spots. Not too much. But am nervous waiting for my scan on the CD 12, this thursday. Hopefully my body is responding very well to this clomid treatment. Have been under a lot of stress lately so gotta keep calm and focus on good thoughts!

Period after cd38

As the title suggest, my period came in late as late as CD-38! Before my AF came, here are my progress;

1. Sperm test via lab- the result wasn't as high as expected. But it was okay. When i brought the test result to my gynae, she explains more thoroughly. From what i heard, the test provided by a lab can give less accuracy than a hospital with embryologist specialist. Also, the slid for the microscope to examine the shape of the sperm also plays an important role. An embryologist will examine the specimen very thoroughly and will give a more accurate result rather than a technician doing the test.

Point taken -  Pls go to a hospital with an embryologist specialist for a sperm test. It may cost double than the normal test at labs but it gives a higher accuracy.

The shape of a sperm should be normal round as below.

*who knew that a sperm can have 2 head or 2 tails?

2. My AF came during my CD38. When doc heard this, she was having the same thoughts as i was. I always have this thought at the back of my mind that im going to have an ectopic pregnancy. That was the same thought as my doc. This is mainly due to my left tube was having some adhesion after my laparoscopy operation (will tell that story later).  But luckily after we had our usual TVS, it shows nothing. Alhamdulilah, no more cysts (thank god!), my ovaries was producing eggs. But the leftover ademyosis/fibroid is still there. But the doc says that it will not bother my conceiving ability. So we just let it be. 

3. Clomid. Yes, I have succumb to this famous drug.I thought i was never gonna start clomid when i heard a friend of mind had really bad acne after having clomid. She had some allergies to the drugs. But doc was saying she was happy with my progress, therefore i can start my IUI this month. But since i have a trip next week which coincide with my 2 weeks wait, so doc will start my treatment with clomid first. Even the higher cost of drugs via injection will be given after we exhaust the clomid option. Okay, sounds reasonable. Clomid is way much cheaper than the inject able drugs. So, last night was DAY 1 for clomid. She starts my treatment with 100mg daily for 5 days. Hopefully i won't get any really bad side effects and nurse advise me to take them at night. This is a good tip to minimize any bad side effects im going to have later. 

So that's about it for my progress. Will update more on clomid progress after 5 days. Insyallah. 

I am not hoping for a miracle but if god is giving a chance ill take it! Amin.  :)

CD35.. Wait what? Is this for real?

CD 35. This is by far the longest cycle for me post-laparoscopy operation. Last month was CD31. And i was never before diagnosed with PCOS. Did UPT test for 2 days in a row. And of course the answer is BFN. Am not that sad, but i was hoping for AF to come soon so that i could start my treatment again with doc Adilah. This cycle I was not that optimistic since CD3 we had good follicle sizes (biggest was 12 mm!) but come CD13, the follicle shrink-ed and i was back to square one. I wasn't on clomid. Doc adilah did prescribe clomid after CD3, but i was adamant in choosing unstimulated cycle. Probably due to doc positive reaction on my big follicle (12mm, can u imagine my surprise as well?) . 

So for today my progress is, my husbands prostate examination and sperm test result has already been send to the lab. So we are going for consultation this Saturday on the result. I'm hoping there is no problem on his sperm count ,insyallah and he might be thinking of doing EKG test for his heart.

Always get checked out when you have the time because early detection can save lives. 

Life Journey Journal

This blog is about my life journey where the destination is not important. But its the journey that matters. It will be some kind of journal for me to keep writing to give faith, to give hope to all people who has the same 1001 crossroads as i have. It is my hope that when i write, i will give some overview on the issues and share my experience going through all the hardship in all. God give me strength to write and be as informative as i can.

Thank you