Checking in on My Lady Bits: A Doc’s Appointment Update

So when I’m not posting about the State of THE Uterus, I thought it was time for an update on the State of MY Uterus.

(Previously, on Keiko’s Uterus: An Overdue Post About My Lady Bits.)

Since we changed health insurance providers in November, it was time to see a new doctor. As much as I would have loved to stay with previous doctor, he wasn’t covered under our new insurance. So I scheduled my first physical for last week that turned out to be both “getting to know my new doctor” and “follow up to random ovarian pain two weeks prior.”

Enter: Dr. Hipster.

To be clear, she wasn’t walking in with a iPod blasting Lana Del Rey or anything; but she’s got these horn-rimmed glasses and a proclivity for skinny jeans that weren’t jeans more like dressy slacks but still skinny jeans? and I dunno. I just thought to myself, “Wow, my new doctor is a hipster!” when she walked into the examining room.

Thankfully, she didn’t laugh at me sitting there in my paper gown, turquoise socks on my feet and iPad in my lap. In fact, she smiled and said she likes a patient who comes prepared.

And prepared I was. I had a list of goals I wanted to accomplish under her care and a list of questions outlined by diagnosis/medical concern area. Because I’ve spent so many hours in doctor’s offices in my life, I’m a firm believer in getting to the point and not wasting time. I also want to make sure that my concerns are heard, so it’s important for me to come in with an agenda. To some, I might seem like a needy patient.

For me, it’s both peace of mind and let’s my doctor know that I’m not just another patient who will simply nod and say “okay” – I’m not just an observer of my own health but rather an active – and proactive – participant in my healthcare.

My health goals:

1. Do what it takes to accommodate living with thyroid disease and premature ovarian failure (beyond infertility concerns and focusing on lifelong health with POF).
2. Achieve as reasonable a weight as I can living with both of these conditions.
3. Do whatever it takes to get my body baby-ready: from implantation to gestation to birth.

Dr. Hipster thought they were all valid goals and was just as committed as I was to making them happen.

So, on to the reports from the front lines:

• We don’t really know what’s causing the systemic itching. Most likely it’s my thyroid but there’s no way to no for sure.
• Speaking of thyroid, my TSH is through the roof. 5.29 to be exact. That’s pretty high for someone who seems to function best in the 1.0-1.2 range.
• Yep, it’s a fibroid. Only 1 cubic centimeter and most likely attached to the back inside wall of my uterus. Since it’s pedunculated, they couldn’t tell if the doorknob part was facing my uterine cavity or the back wall of my uterus. Awesomesauce.
• I need to clean up my diet and exercise (shocker). My cholesterol was high-ish, 215, which for me is actually lower than I’m used to. My HGA1C was also 5.9. And when 6.1 is considered pre-diabetic, my heart skipped a beat seeing those numbers. With a family history of heart disease and type II diabetes, I do not want to fuck around with this.

For my thyroid, she wants to take my off the Armour Thyroid I’ve been taking and up my Levoxyl dose in stages. So for now, I’m going off 88mcg Levoxyl/30mg Armour and going to 100mcg of Levoxyl. We’ll retest my thyroid levels in 6 weeks and then hopefully up my dose to 112mcg, retest and then see if we need to bump it up to 125mcg. I’m laying money that I might have to go up to 137mcg, since that’s the dose I took for the longest amount of time before dropping back down last year.

Unfortunately for the itching, she recommended I take the Atarax as needed. I had another episode this weekend, but managed to stave it off with just a Zyrtec, so we’ll see.

As for the fibroid, since I filled her in on the whole “we’re going the donor egg/IVF route” and stressed that yes, we need to make sure my uterus is pristine by the time I’m on the transfer table, she said she would defer to my as-yet-to-be-determined RE* (more on that in a bit). Her opinion is that it should be fine, but after attending RESOLVE New England’s Donor Egg Seminar last month, I’d rather err on the side of caution and medically intervene if needed.

As for diet and exercise, I have some good news to report. I told Dr. Hipster that I was eating 3 small meals a day with light, healthy snacks in between. I told her I was trying to go to the gym 3 times a week: 1 yoga class and 2 nights of cardio for at least 30 minutes. I told her I was paying more attention to the variety of foods and nutrients I put into my body across the day and had begun taking calcium, fish oil, and women’s multivitamin supplements daily.

The good news? “You’re doing all the right things. Keep it up.”

Yes! A gold star from my doctor for once!

In terms of getting myself baby-ready? Continue doing the above and make sure I’m getting 1mg of folic acid daily, so I just need to add a folic acid supplement.

And I have to say, since making these lifestyle changes: breakfast, vitamins, gym – it’s made a huge difference. I’ve lost 8 pounds since December. My energy is magnificent. I don’t get winded going up and down the stairs. I just feel good. It’s a nice change.

So that’s where I’m at.

That as-yet-to-be-determined RE I mentioned? You might remember I got a second opinion on my POF diagnosis with Doc Awesome, the doctor I was hoping we’d go with from the Big Fertility Clinic in Our Area. At the Donor Egg Seminar I went to last month, I got to meet a doctor from a much smaller clinic local to us that I want to get to know a little better. There was just something about his warm candor and approachability that really resonated with me, so Larry and I are going to schedule a consultation and see what they’re all about. They are vastly different in approach from the Big Fertility Clinics and I’m willing to hear them out.

Better to be over-educated than not enough, right?

And there’s a reason that perhaps we might want to find an RE and soon… ladies and gents, Team Zoll’s Family Building Adventure officially begins this year. Full details in a future post as there’s still a lot of personal, behind-the-scenes conversations happening, but we’re thrilled to announce the ball officially begins rolling in 2012 for us 🙂

PS: You should totally check out RESOLVE New England’s new website. Yes, I work for them, but I’m sharing it because I’m doubly proud of its new look and feel… since I built it! 😀 I love being able to show off shiny new things I made so check them out and tell your New England friends.

So yay for feeling good. Yay for doing good. What’s good in your life, right now? Even if it’s been a crappy Monday, surely there must be one good thing for you, right now. Share in the comments!