Infection from Hysterosalpingogram

September 13, 2007
Two nights ago I woke up at 3am with a fever of 101. I hadn't been feeling like myself for a couple of days, and even though I was on antibiotics I was convinced I had an infection.

I called the Dr. the next morning (yesterday) and she had me come in right away. They took my temperature and pee and also then we went into the exam room for a transvaginal ultrasound.

In the room I layed down while she inserted the ultrasound device, and I was able to watch on a flat-screen monitor near the ceiling. I don't know how the Doctor can see the things that she can see, but she pointed out different areas to me on the screen.

She saw all my female parts, and I have a fibroid. She said that it appears to be far away enough from the lining of my uterus as to not cause a problem with conception.

She saw a "collapsed follicle" which signals that I had already ovulated and the egg was on the move. The follicle is what signals for your body to release progesterone. The progesterone heats up your body to keep it warm enough for the potential of a pregnancy.

She also saw my right fallopian tube, which when healthy she shouldn't be able to see with the ultrasound. She told me that she hasn't seen the x-ray photos yet, but that based on the information reported by the radiologist I had a "hydrosalpinx". This was being confirmed by her seeing my fallopian tube in the ultrasound.

A hydrosalpinx is typically associated with a blocked tube that collects fluid and ends up looking like a sausage. My tube is open but it currently holding fluid similar to a hydrosalpinx. I don't know yet if that means that it was created by the dye test and will calm down, or if it's permanently that way. She's going to call me after she looks at the x-ray images.

Based on what she saw she took me off the other antibiotic and put me on 2 others that are general and very aggressive. She also told me that if my fever doesn't break by Friday that I may need to go in the hospital and get IV antibiotics. Scary.

Even though she didn't want to say too much before seeing my x-ray images, she did tell me that I was not a good candidate for InteraUterine Insemination. She said that when you have a hydrosalpinx if you HAPPEN to get pregnant you have a high-risk of tubal pregnancy. This would be very bad and require a surgical abortion, in essence.

She also told me that a hydrosalpinx can ruin a cycle of InVitro because if the embryos are in the uterus the fluid from the hydro can leak out of the tube and either 1) flush out the embryo trying to attach to the uterus, or 2) poison the embryo, because the fluid is toxic to embryos.

This would mean that the most effective way for us to get pregnant now would be to have InVitro, but before that we'd need to deal with the tube. This would most likely mean removal. There are other women's blogs that I have read that say the Doctor "pierced" the tube when they went in for egg retrieval, and that way by the time they implant the tube is empty and the fluid is gone. My Doctor didn't mention that.

I'm going to try not to worry about all of this until I hear back from her. Hopefully the news will get better, and hopefully I'll also heal from this infection. :(