My doctor’s appointment (the one that got switched at the last minute last time) was yesterday, so I thought I’d tell you about it. This is a whole other doctor than the RE who I’ve been seeing for a year. This guy does actual surgery.

So, just as a refresher: My HSG was mental. The RE says I more than likely have a unicornuate uterus, but she’s not sure. The only way to be sure is to get some surgery, which this new doctor would do.

My appointment was at 2 pm. I took the whole day off, because honestly? This cold is kicking my ass, and I wanted to sleep in. Which I did, until 8:30. Then I got into a hot bath, finished my book, and tried to relax because how nervous was I?

We left home at noon. We stopped at the bank (which took no more than 10 minutes) and were on our way. As I’ve mentioned before, I like being at appointments at least 10 or 15 minutes early. Then we were on the road. I figured that since we’d left 2 hours (well, one hour and 50 minutes) before my appointment, and it’s a one-hour drive, tops, that we’d be there in plenty of time.

And then, there was this:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3649/3568487250_c6abb1ea21.jpg

Road construction. We sat for half an hour, waiting for the flagperson to let us through, and I became more and more frustrated. She finally did let us through, and we started on our way, me thinking “well, we’ll still be about 20 minutes early!” until… we were stuck behind a tractor. For 20 minutes. No passing lanes. By the time we found parking, ran into the building, and made it up to the 4th floor, we were about 5 minutes late. Luckily, they were running a bit late, themselves, so they weren’t upset.

We were led into an exam room. The nurse told me that he might want to do a pap test (which wasn’t exciting for me at all), but that he would let us know when he got in there. We waited for a couple of minutes, and he came in. He was very personable, and I liked him right away. He explained what would be happening with this surgery. Again, this is ladybusiness business. If you’re squicked out, then look away (but come back later because there’s something cool!):

It is day surgery, so I’ll get to go home after. That’s a plus. They’ll put me totally to sleep (not like when I got my wisdom teeth out and woke up in the middle of it), so that’s another plus. As for the surgery itself: First they will pump my belly up with some gas. Then they’re going to put a camera up in my uterus through, well, the usual entryway, and look around some. This will be to show if there’s any endometriosis or adhesions inside there. They’re also going to do at least two, possibly four incisions in my belly (one through my belly button, one above the pubic bone, and possibly two more above the ovaries – there’s an image here, if you want to take a look. Obviously that is not my belly, because if it was you’d need a bigger browser window), and put cameras through there. This will show them if there are any bent tubes and if my uterus really is unicornuate. There will also be some dye involved, somehow, but I don’t know when that will come into play. The surgery could take anywhere from half an hour to 4 hours, depending on what he finds up in there. He said that if he does find anything in there that’s fixable, he will fix it – endometriosis would be removed, if there were adhesions that could be unstuck, he’d unstick them, and if a tube is bent (like when your garden hose gets bent and the water won’t come out) he’ll try his best to un-bend it. Of course he also made it clear that there may be absolutely nothing he can do, and he wanted me to know that this wasn’t going to be any kind of miracle surgery if things weren’t looking good in there. I told him that I was fully prepared for it not to go well (and then Rob cut in with “Knowing Louise, she’s expecting it to all go wrong” – he knows me so well. Don’t expect things to go well, you won’t be disappointed when it goes badly). He explained the risks (perforation of the uterus, complications from the anaesthetic), and we read and signed the consent forms (if they take any tissue out of me, I can’t keep it! I consent to letting them dispose of it!). He told us that his wife is a teacher, and that I should plan to take two weeks (TWO WEEKS!) off work for recovery because if they do poke around in there very much, I’m going to hurt so much that I won’t want to be on my feet at all for at least two weeks. We’ll see about that. I don’t like using up my sick days. I asked when the surgery would be, and he said it was looking like they didn’t have any openings until the fall, but that they would try to get me in as soon as possible. If they have any dates during the summer, that’s when they’ll do it.

So now we wait for them to call and give a surgery date.

Now for the surprise part!

On the way home, I asked Rob to drive. He told me he was going to take a different route home, because he didn’t want to run into that construction again. FINE BY ME! I didn’t even question the fact that he already had a printed out Google map that he consulted before we set off.

So, off we went on this different route. I will admit to not paying much attention to the drive – I’m knitting a blanket for a friend, and I had it with me so I was knitting like the wind, when Rob pulled into someone’s driveway.

“Um, where are we?” I asked. “C’mon,” he said. “Trust me.”

Famous last words.

So he led the way. We knocked on the door, and a lady and her husband answered (don’t go thinking we suddenly became swingers. We didn’t. Um. If you weren’t thinking that at all, forget I said anything). This is when Rob said “Hi, we’re here to look at the puppies”, and the lady was like “Oh, Rob and Louise? Hi! You’re right on time!” and I said “Uh? Wha?” and Rob looked at me and said “Surprise!”

You know I have wanted a dog for years. You know that last winter, we almost had two puppies, but then they died. I’ve just been thinking “Oh, it won’t happen,” or “It’s not the right time”.

Well, apparently Rob took things into his own hands. After plenty of research, he found this lady and her husband, who breed shih-tzus (one of the breeds I’m not allergic to). He contacted them, checked out their references, and arranged a time for us to meet with them. And he somehow managed to keep it all from me! What a little surpriser!

After chatting a bit with the owners and their 7 year old son, we met the mom dog (Cuddles) and saw pictures of the dad, who lives down the street from them. We also met their 1-year-old daughter, who is also a gorgeous dog. Then we looked at the puppies. Oh my soul. They were only 3 days old, born on Saturday the 23rd. There was one little girl, who was already promised to their grandchildren, and three little boys. The lady said that she and Rob had been in touch since April, and she wanted us to have first pick (aside from the one that was for their grandkid). The three remaining puppies were male – Two identical boys, and one white and brown one.
I was drawn to him right away. He was moving around alot, making cute little puppy sounds, and finally making his way back to his mom for some lovins. The owner told us that he was the first born, and that he wasn’t even all the way out yet before he started feeding. That sealed it for me – a dog after my own heart.

So, in six weeks, we will have our own little dude to hang around with. The puppies will be ready to go on July 3rd, but since a very nice person that we know (well, two very nice people, I should say) is getting married on the 5th, we will be picking him up when we get home from that.

And I am so excited! And at the same time don’t want to jinx anything! But I probably already have!

She asked if we had a name picked out. And I did (you can see it on those pics at Flickr), almost immediately – after the dog on Fraggle Rock – but I was all coy. “Well, we have a couple, but we’ll have to decide and let you know.” Rob was looking at me all strangely because just a couple of days before he had asked me what my favourite name for a dog was, and I told him that one, of course.

So when we got in the car on the way home, he said “What other names do you have for a dog?” “Um… Bananahead?” “No, seriously.” “Bananaface?” “How come you didn’t just tell her the name you like?” “Well, I wanted to make sure that you liked it too,” “Which you know I do, I’ve already told you that I like that name”, “- and… I don’t know. I was sort of in shock. And I didn’t want them thinking “Ah ha! These people are so anxious to have a dog they’ll take anything! I’m going to give these rubes a Brillo pad with a motor in it when they come back and they will never know the difference~!“”. At which point he rolled his eyes and giggled, simultaneously, because that’s how he rolls.

Not that I think they would ever do that, but I’ve been wanting this for so long that I just have this unhealthy obsession that something is going to go wrong. And it could. I mean, six weeks is a long time. Who knows what might happen.

BUT OMG PUPPY!

*** I have to say – I am a HUGE supporter of the local Humane Society. If I could, we would adopt a shelter dog. Unfortunately, in the four years since we have been looking for a dog, they have only had shepherds, labs, and mixes thereof, all of which I am extremely allergic to. We will be making a donation (like I do every few months anyway) to our local shelter when we bring this little dude home. ***