Medical Screening is COMPLETE!!

Things have really been moving along for us, and the days have really passed quickly and here we are - DONE with testing! We still have our joint psych consult/sit-down Friday AM but it seems that is mainly a formality at this point.

I went to ACRM at just after 9:00am this morning and was taken back for a blood draw first, then had a quick consult with Tammy, the nurse coordinator and we talked a little about their protocol and what to expect in terms of getting results and next steps. She said we should have results back by next week and as long as everything is negative/normal we'll start talking timeline and plugging dates in on the med calendar! They work with a mail order pharmacy so once we get everything lined up I can expect a "box 'o meds" before cycling begins. I've still got 2 1/2 weeks of active pills in the pill pack I'm on, but most likely will at least go part way into another pill pack before cycling or as part of the cycle protocol.

After my consult with Tammy I went back to the secondary waiting room and Dr. Denis came and got me, he was very nice. I liked him a lot. He has a GREAT bedside manner which is quite a bit more than I can say for most of the RE's I've met over the past 5 years. Some of them are great at what they do and great with their patients, but in my personal experience that is more of an exception to the rule. In any event, we had a very nice sit down discussion about my personal history with surrogacy and cycling up to that point and went over the lining issues I'd had with my first IPs and I told him my personal opinions on why things happened and the meds that had me on and he said he felt comfortable with everything I told him and didn't seem concerned about the fluid I'd had in some of those cycles. In any event, I felt good to have had a chance to talk it all through with him and make sure they feel comfortable with me as a G.S. candidate. I want my IPs to have the BEST chance possible for a pregnancy and I know the clinic does as well, so I am very glad they are thorough with their screening!!

After we talked in his office, they prepped a patient room for the other procedures and brought me back and had me undress waist down (I try to be "prepared" for these days and wear dresses on days I know I'm going to have uterine procedures/evals/ultrasounds done so I don't have to undress/dress so much)! Dr. Denis gave me a very thorough walk through of what to expect with the procedure in terms of what he would actually be doing and what I could expect to feel. First he took a cervical culture (part of the standard STD testing), then did a trial transfer and cavity measurement (said it was a pretty straight shot, and all normal), then continued with the lidocaine for numbing me before putting the tools in for the hysteroscopy procedure. He numbed me in 3 places and it was mildly uncomfortable but no real pain or anything, I didn't feel much of anything once he was finished with the numbing. Then in when the little tiny camera and I watched on the screen as he took a look around my uterus for polyps/fibroids (of which there were non - yay) and found the tubal openings and took a close look at my lining. After that he took a endometrium biopsy sample and I was all done! I was given two doxycycline pills to help prevent infection and sent on my way.

We'll get results back next week and then go from there! Fingers crossed everything looks good and we get the thumbs up next week! :)

Kenneth starts paperwork with Resurgens for his surgery tomorrow so hopefully next week we'll be moving forward with that as well - lots to keep us busy in the coming weeks!