|
Our Stories
Maria's Story
Well, this is what happened to me (translated):
We had planned our first child and she arrived exactly on the day she
was due. We wanted a home birth and it started as an easy confinement
with her being born in our living room three hours after the first
labour-pains. Till today no one understands why my placenta did not
come out properly. My midwife said she had never seen such a torn
piece and it was clear that I needed to go into hospital for a minor
operation. Not knowing what would happen I was only happy that my
child was healthy (well, I still am). When we arrived the midwife
showed the placenta pieces that had come out so far to the doctor, but
she was not at all interested. A week after this D & C I went home
and immediately developed high fever. I was told by the midwife and
the gynaecologist that this could happen during breast-feeding, but
when it did not stop after a week and reached 41° C I went back to
the same hospital nearby (wrong, wrong, wrong, never go to a hospital
for the same thing twice, they will not think about them maybe having
made a mistake at the beginning!).
Within the next week they checked
every pore of my body BUT NOT my uterus with ultrasound! They did not
find a thing that was wrong with me, but I still had high fever.
Therefore they suggested a strong dose of antibiotics, which would
have meant to stop breast-feeding my child. I refused this as I did
not like the idea of not knowing what was wrong but taking heavy stuff
nevertheless. Luckily the fever stopped for three days and I was
allowed to go home without any further treatment. Well, it started
again. This time I looked for an internal specialist. I found a good
one because he (not being a gynaecologist at all!) was the one to say
that if I was still bleeding (and I was, but the hospital staff had
not taken it serious), I needed to go to a big hospital for an
ultrasound. And so I did. Once it was done there, they suggested
another D & C for still retained placenta, four weeks after the
first one. To cut a long story a little shorter: the operation seemed
to be successful (nearly two years later one of the doctors said they
should have told me about the likeliness of Asherman´s, well, many
shoulds and woulds).
I breast-fed my daughter for half a year and did not expect to have a
period. But when it did not reappear three months thereafter I went to
my gynaecologist. She made an ultrasound and said it was due to nature
that it sometimes takes longer. She repeated this opinion twice when I
consulted her three and six months later. At this point I felt I had
to go to someone else. The next gynaecologist suggested a hormone
therapy before going for a hysteroscopy. As it was negative I had the
first hysto in April 2000. Already when I talked to the doctor at the
clinic (specialized on female minimal invasive surgery) before (!) the
operation he said: “You have Asherman´s.” As if it was the most
normal thing to happen and know about ....
During this first hysteroscopy he opened the cervix which had been
totally blocked and found that two thirds of the cavity were full of
adhesions including one tube´s entrance therefore blocked. I had
severe Asherman´s. With the operation report in my hands I then
talked to my gynaecologist who said that I would never be able to have
children again. I was devastated and somehow got back home.
Then it struck me that the operating surgeon had suggested another
hyst/lap to open the cavity. Why would he do so if there was no chance
at all? In Germany you are not supposed to ask any more questions to
the operating team once the operation is over. But this was my only
chance. So imagine me driving to the clinic and again with new
knowledge (it was worthwhile trying to open the rest of the uterus,
they said) back to my gyn, only because they would not talk to each
other about my case! After the first hysteroscopy luckily a friend of
mine (make sure you have a doctor among your friends ...) told me
about medline. What a surprise to find more than 100 articles on
Asherman´s! I ordered the most important ones and now was sure to be
right when planning the second hysteroscopy, which took place in
August. It went well, and they did not even have to do a laparoscopy.
After this operation they said everything was as before I had
developed Asherman´s and I should only one more month take an
estrogen/gestagen combination (2 mg per day estrogen, after 11 days
combined with 0,5 mg gestagen, I had taken this also after the first
operation. At both operations they did not use any IUD, balloon etc.).
After the first normal cycle I could become pregnant without any
problems in sight. My gyn though said that according to the operation
report they had damaged at least part of the remaining endometrium
with the YAG laser. I should take the hormones three months. And in
order to know whether adhesions have reformed I should go for a third
“control” hysto. So there I was again: They couldn´t have said
anything more different. What was I to do?
This was my situation when I joined the Asherman´s support group. And
it has made such a big difference. With all that wealth of information
and emotional support I was able to decide rather easily. First I
started to look for THE specialist for Asherman´s. Someone in the
group knew a specialist in the USA, I emailed him asking for one in
Germany, got an immediate answer, talked to this doctor, got an
appointment, drove three hours, talked to him for more than one hour,
and found out that my surgeon (who had been responsible for the second
hysteroscopy) is indeed one of the best surgeons for Asherman´s! I
was so relieved to hear that! Unfortunately my period got weaker
within the next two months. Since this can be a sign of adhesions
reforming, I got really worried. Finally I asked my surgeon for a
second-look hysteroscopy. He considered it not necessary but was
willing to do so. He even suggested an endometrium receptors biopsy
along with it. This was done at the beginning of November and showed
NO SCARRING HAD RETURNED, lucky me! Meanwhile I also have the results
of the biopsy and it states clearly that my estrogen and progesterone
receptors work fine. This was just done to rule out any further
problems. So the problem left is the endometrium´s thickness and
quality. But I am confident that I will somehow be able to manage
this, too.
For the time being I am having nice periods (but still a little weak)
and my lining (without hormones) is a little over 6 mm on cycle day
14. I stopped taking anymore hormones to see what my body does without
them (I have taken them for seven months now!). I feel I have gone a
long winding road with lots of stones that needed to be taken away.
But I know that there will be a chance of another full term pregnancy
in future. And I no longer consider myself absolutely infertile! And
this proves that you should not believe any doctor who says you could
never have another child on your own, unless you have asked for a
second opinion! And this story will be updated sometime in future as a
success story with a photo of another lovely little baby! P.S. Please,
go to the link “Success
Stories” to see the rest of my story, because it did turn out to
be a real success story!!!!
Next Story
Success Stories
Top
|
