So.  The HSG. 

Bottom line: could have been better, could have been worse.

First off, a big thank you to Becky and MomWinks for sitting with me at the hospital.  It was a lot less scary knowing that there was someone sitting out in the waiting room for me.  The procedure itself was uncomfortable all the way through: ice cold speculum (and much as I like Dr. Local, he knew it was cold — he warned me that it was cold!  Bastard.), the catheter hurt going in, they couldn’t get a good seal so I had contrast dye leaking out of me the whole time, and then them trying to force my right tube. 

My left tube was completely open; you could see the dye start to travel down almost immediately and it spilled with no problem.  But my right tube … the jury’s still out.  Despite my lack of creative skill, the picture below is my abstract impression of what I could see on the screen.  The left side, as you can see, looked fine.  But the dye did not travel down my right tube at all.  I even got to roll onto my right side to try to force some dye down through gravity, which hurt like a bitch, but didn’t work either.  Dr. Local told me afterward it is highly unusual for a tube to be blocked at that location, right up next to the uteurus.  He says that given my apparently normal physiology and the fact that my left tube is open, he thinks that a) he couldn’t get enough pressure to force dye down the tube because of the poor seal and leakage and/or b) the left tube was so open that the dye was choosing the path of least resistance and going that direction instead.   He did not seem very concerned immediately after the procedure, and I got the impression that he thinks I’m fine.

So, we’re going to continue this cycle and maybe 1-2 more with femara only.  But I’m unsure of what we would do after that.  My next appointment is on the 22nd for a follicle check, and I’m going to ask then what he recommends.  My gut instinct is that I would not want to go to IUI without doing a second HSG or a laparascopy to check out that right tube and see if we can find out what’s going on.  Because IUI + blocked tube = waste of money.

Physically, I’m okay.  I just have this memory of pain in my right side.  But emotionally, I could have done without the additional uncertainty.  Why can’t I ever get something simple: yes, you have xyz or no, you’re completely normal.  Instead I get this crazy, well clinically you didn’t spill, but I don’t really think it’s blocked, and it would be something highly unlikely to happen.  Augh!  I don’t want to think about this anymore.