[empressjess]

Hi, My name is Jessica, and I'm new to the forums. On Thursday while I was at work I had extreme abdominal pain and an ambulance was called. My husband works third shift, so I told my work not to call him. While I was in the ER they did a pregnancy test which came back as positive. At that point I got a hold of my husband and made him come to the ER. Before my husband arrived they did an ultra sound, which showed fibroids around my uterus. At this point they said there were a couple of scenarios: a cyst that burst, a tubal pregnancy, or something wrong with the fibroid.

After my husband arrived, the doctor checked in. They were still waiting for my blood work on the quantitative pregnancy test. She said she would come back. About an hour and a half later, the surgical team showed up to take me to surgery. When we got there the doctor told me that the blood work showed a quantitative of 6000, meaning a tubal pregnancy. They ended up removing my right tube because it was too badly damaged. However, she said that my left tube looks good and she doesn't see a problem with me being able to conceive in the future.

Physically, I think I'm doing ok. There were three incisions on my stomach and one in my belly button. Other than some slight itching, and now bruising coming up from underneath the incisions, everything seems to be doing fine. I took my last pain pill very early yesterday morning (like one a.m.), so it's going on two waking days without the pain pills. The pain is manageable with ibuprofin.

Mentally, I think I'm doing ok. I'm sad about the loss, but we didn't know about the pregnancy long before the emergency surgery. I'm 31, and about a year ago my husband and I decided to stop using any form of birth control. We both feel like it's up to nature at this point, and if we have a baby, cool, if not, cool. We love our life the way it is, but would be very happy to add children as well. However, we both feel like we don't want to go to extreme measures to become pregnant. I totally understand why some people do, and don't think there's anything wrong with taking that route. I just know that I'm ok with whatever happens.

Anyhow, the reason I'm posting all this is two fold. First of all, I do feel sad. I know that this is normal. I'm just looking for a way to cope, and I'm hopeful that by writing about what happened I'll start to feel a little better. Secondly, I've noticed some terms on these forums that I don't understand, so I'm looking for a little guidance / clarification.

There was a woman who posted a similar story to mine, where the doctor said her other tube was fine and said that an HSG wasn't necessary. However, she went ahead with the HSG with another doctor and found out that there was blockage in that tube. What is an HSG?

I'm scheduled to see the doctor who did my salpingectomy in about two weeks. What types of questions should I ask?

Thank you for reading.

[Koshveily]

And HSG is a hysterosalpingogram... they put dye in your uterus and follow it on an x-ray as it goes through your tubes. This is how they can determine if you have blocked tubes. I'd get one done. It would be terrible to get another ectopic if you have a blockage issue that went undiagnosed.

I lost my left tube to an ectopic in 2006... and in 2007 we had a second ectopic that was caught early and treated with methotrexate... so glad you got the help you needed right away. It's a very dangerous situation.

Good luck! And great big hugs for such a terrible ordeal.

[empressjess]

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I will definitely ask my doctor about an HSG.

I went back to work today, and it was a bit tougher than I thought it would be. Because of the ambulance being called, a lot of people knew that I had been "sick". There were a lot of questions, and for the most part I coped fairly well. I did knock off about two hours early, as my stomach was starting to hurt, my emotions are still running a bit wild, and I'm still bleeding quite a bit.

I've been reading through a lot of these forums, and my heart goes out to everyone. I have nothing but love and hope for all of the women who have gone through all sorts of heartache and loss in order to conceive. You all are very strong.

[makenalelu]

Your attitude is great about the whole thing. I went thru an ectopic exactly 1 year ago today. Ended up having surgery to remove the pregnancy, though they did save my left tube. Pregnancy can happen after an ectopic, I'm proof of that. We are expecting twins in the next few weeks.

As for coping...I had a very similar attitude as you do. Physcially, I was pretty back to normal about 2 weeks after the surgery. The incisions heal quickly, I think the only thing that hung around were the bruises. The mental part...I would say it took me about 3-4 weeks to feel good again, but still had some rough days (the timing of my ectopic was mixed with the news from my sister that she was pregnant with twins, so it was a tough time).

Did you have a methotrexate shot? I had one with the surgery, so had to wait 3 months to try again. It was a good break, got my mind in a better place...but it was tough I will admit that.

Best of luck to you. I would suggest the HSG, just so you know where things are with your remaining tube. I know this is tough, but things do get better day by day.

[empressjess]

I don't think I had the shot along with the salpingectomy. When my doctor was first presenting my options it was an either / or scenario: either we can do the shot or the tube is too damaged to save. I know that my right tube ruptured and was too damaged to save; therefore, it was removed along with the failed pregnancy. However, you raise a good point, and I'll add that to the list of questions I've written down for my doctor.

To be honest, everything after "we're going to have to remove your tube" was a little blurry. Even though I really only had a couple of hours to be used to the idea of being pregnant, my hopes were raised. When we found out that it was bad news, I admit I went into a zone. My husband has taken this better than I have. He was like, "Well, it sucks, but we'll have a baby when the time is right for us." I was like, "But I was hoping to have a baby NOW." My emotions are totally tangled up.

This is all compounded by the fact that I'm very active on Facebook, and in the last year, six of my male coworkers and their wives have had babies, the coworker I sit next to has had a grandbaby, and my husband's cousin is currently pregnant. All I see are pictures of healthy babies! I feel like I'm excluded from an awesome club that I tried out for and was denied access to. Does that sound totally dumb?

[kblythe]

Jess, I'm so sorry about what you're going through. It's really rough. And I think it's totally normal to feel a bit depressed and to really notice, for the first time, all of the babies around you. Many of us who struggled to conceive, myself included, reached a point where I just wouldn't go to any baby shower unless it was for someone really special. It was just too painful. Now that I finally have my baby, I'm over that. But I'm also way more empathetic for women who are going through challenges like you are.

On the positive side, though, it sounds like you have a really good chance of conceiving. You're young. You've shown proven fertility ... the tubal was more a mechanical problem than can be addressed. The worst is when you get the dreaded "unexplained infertility" diagnosis meaning that the doctors just don't know how to fix things. So after you've given yourself time and permission to grieve, I think you should be very very hopeful.

Best of luck.

Kathryn.